During his medical internship at Worcester Hospital some years ago, Stellenbosch University alumnus Dr Chad Marthinussen was flummoxed by a request to scan a patient who had been in a serious car accident.
It was his first night on duty in the emergency centre and he was stuck with an archaic ultrasound machine he had no clue how to operate. “The seniors on duty were swamped and one asked me to do a trauma scan and check for internal bleeding. I said, 'but doc, I've never done this before'… Then she said, 'figure it out!'"
With no help available, he turned to YouTube and found a video to guide him through the scan. “I thought if I'm struggling like this, my peers must be struggling too. This is not how things should be done. The equipment should be portable, versatile and robust – and we should all understand how to use it."
Marthinussen's experience inspired the young entrepreneur to conceptualise a wireless ultrasound solution which enables any appropriately trained healthcare worker (HCW) to make more accurate diagnoses by scanning all parts of the human body. Fast forward a few years and today the device–known as the U-Image–is gaining popularity among HCWs throughout Africa.
“The U-Image was a concept born of necessity," said Marthinussen who founded the healthcare technology company, Innohealth Technologies, which focuses on healthcare delivery through clinics and virtual care, point-of-care solutions, as well as the use of data and artificial intelligence (AI) in healthcare.
Although he studied medicine, Marthinussen's real passion has always been business. “It was a running joke on campus that I'd take a business book into theatre with me!" Though he enjoyed medicine, he was equally intrigued with the entrepreneurial opportunities in healthcare. “l enjoy taking the problem-solving processes involved in medicine and applying it to business."
Born in Paarl, Marthinussen matriculated from Paarl Boys High School in 2011 and then enrolled to study medicine at SU, where he excelled academically and served on the Tygerberg Student Council.
As a student he started his first business by selling gym supplements. During the same time he also worked as a DJ at campus parties. He then started a company that produced smart watches that monitored heart rate and blood pressure, and during COVID he launched a company that sold over a million face masks nationwide. This was his first major success.
After his experience with the outdated ultrasound, Marthinussen reached out to several manufacturers and realised their products were not well-suited to the African context. And so he co-developed U-Image in collaboration with a licensed manufacturer. It was approved in 2021 and he also secured an investment from an EU-based firm.
The portable device, which is smaller than a smartphone, is able to scan the whole body, thus enabling doctors and nurses to pick up symptoms and reduce the time for intervention. “It has the equivalent of three different transducers in one device so can scan for cardiac issues, breast, chest, vascular and abdominal scans, as well as gestational and obstetrics," said Marthinussen.
“Think of it as the new stethoscope. Any clinician–student, nurse or doctor–can use it."
Today the device, which was used on a trial basis in Tygerberg Hospital's Division of Obstetrics during COVID in 2020, is used in a range of government hospitals and, the has been distributed to healthcare institutions in South Africa, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Nigeria and Kenya.
“Our main north star for U-Image is 'task shifting' - making it more accessible to lesser-specialised healthcare professionals to deliver a service. We aim to introduce some technology in the form of AI to assist in image capturing."
The company recently embarked on a project with a non-governmental organisation, called Unjani, which runs 172 nurse-led clinics across the country whereby they will supply all the clinics with the U-Image solution.
Turning to his experience at SU, Marthinussen said that besides giving him an excellent clinical background, the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences also opened his eyes to the diverse cultures of South Africa and helped him build strong relationships and networks. “You can't put a number or a value to that."
Marthinussen said the company is currently working on a range of projects, including creating a training and certification business aimed at equipping people to use the scanners.
“We are also working on more research projects aimed at developing software and apps to integrate AI into our work.
“Our goal is to introduce it into the medical school curriculum. Medical students today are far more technology oriented so it's natural for them to adopt this type of technology. We foresee a future where integration of bedside ultrasound will be critical in day-to-day engagements between HCWs and patients. Doctors wanting to give the best levels of care need to up their skills set beyond just the art of medicine, so integrating this technology is critical for that."
