PORT HARCOURT, Nigeria, Mon. Mar. 22, 2021– Dr. Bernard Bulwer, a cardiologist with a specialization in echo-cardiology who was born and raised in Belize, is working along with two African pioneers in the health field, Dr. Funmi Adewara and Mr. Mustapha Njie, to create a groundbreaking mobile app that will place high-level ultrasound technology in the hands of anyone with a phone.
The development of the app is taking place under Dr. Funmi Adewara’s Mobihealth initiative. Mobihealth is a tele-health app that gives Africans the ability to access in-depth body scans and get free consultation on health issues from world-class doctors from across the globe.
According to Dr. Adewara, through the initiative they are able to do delivery of medication and home-care followups, as well as health education and local capacity-building. In a facebook post on Mr. Njie’s facebook page, Dr. Bulwer said that his “focus is to take this technology to democratize access to care because it is the only medical imaging technology that we could plug into a phone or plug into a tablet.”
He further explained the mechanism behind this revolutionary app. According to Dr. Bulwer, through this app, Africans will be able to take ultrasound selfies. This technology will be especially useful in screening for rheumatic heart disease, high blood pressure or heart failure in the schools.
Dr. Bulwer added, “When someone collapses, you at least have access to a device that you could just put there and get a selfie, an inside selfie or ultrasound selfie that you can literally text or Wi-Fi-send to the hospital from the ambulance to the airport or to a doctor in the country, or outside the country.”
Dr. Bulwer explained that the app is scalable and has many applications, including applications outside of cardiography. Pregnant women would be able to receive ultrasound scans from the comfort of their home. Additionally, men would be able to screen for possible prostate issues that may arise with age, drastically reducing the need for surgeries.
“There’s no longer an excuse for us to say that Africans no longer have access to health care, said Bulwer, since this app will place vital healthcare at the fingertips of anyone with a smartphone.
Dr. Bulwer was trained in Jamaica, Trinidad, London, Newcastle and Boston, Massachusetts. He is a Harvard Medical School alum and is a resident doctor at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital.