The potential role of X-ray Diagnosis in eradicating TB
- FHS Comms
The Wits Faculty of Health Sciences hosted Dr. Rena Lee for a lecture titled "Health Cooperation between South Korea and South Africa, and Opportunities: Bringing Medical Innovations to Life – Research and Commercialisation Strategies for X-Ray Devices." The lecture, which was in collaboration with the Embassy of the Republic of Korea, was held on the 11th of September at the Wits Health Sciences campus in Parktown.
Dr Lee, the Head of the Department of Biomedical Engineering at Ewha Woman's University, discussed how medical innovations such as medical devices can significantly impact the overall cycle of healthcare provision. "Today, medical devices are essential for diagnosis, treatment, and monitoring, and they also help reduce healthcare costs… They help make healthcare more efficient, accessible, and effective, ultimately improving outcomes for patients everywhere," she explains.
Image: Dr Lee delivering the lecture to the staff and students at the Faculty of Health Sciences
Her talk highlighted diagnosis as a defining point in managing patients' conditions as this informs the treatment planning process. From a health system perspective, diagnostics is an important tool that is used to assess the incidence rate of diseases within populations. This has a direct influence on public health planning and how resources are allocated.
In South Africa (SA), Tuberculosis (TB) is a leading cause of death despite it being a preventable and curable disease. This has become a priority of our National Department of Health which cites the improvement of TB outcomes as a health system goal to be reached by 2030. To achieve this, Professor Lee recommends a significant rise in the uptake of community health screenings with X-rays.
However, she says that the accessibility of X-ray machines in primary healthcare facilities is the main barrier to fast-tracking TB diagnosis. X-ray machines are usually only found in hospitals, not clinics – which are the first point of healthcare services. These machines are big, heavy, and expensive, necessitating they become a shared resource accessed at hospitals.
Dr Lee, who is also an entrepreneur, says that to overcome this challenge, she invented a portable low-dose x-ray device – REMEDI. Her talk highlighted the opportunities that she hopes South Africa and South Korea can explore. This includes a collaboration to establish manufacturing facilities in South Africa to assist with reducing the cost of medical devices to the local market as SA is currently reliant on importing medical devices.
Image: Dr Lee holding the REMEDI portable low-dose X-ray device during her lecture
Furthermore, Lee says that there are key areas in South Africa that her home country could learn from such as conducting human clinical trials – a capability that lags in South Korea and is excelled in SA. Through its extensive clinical academic platforms which includes internationally recognized research entities, the Wits Faculty of Health Sciences is a global leader in this area. "Our faculty goals are to be pioneers and leaders in research that shapes global health solutions. We are certainly proud that our scientists continue to be at the forefront of the clinical trial network both globally and locally", says Professor Maria Papathanasopoulos - Assistant Dean for Research, Innovation and Postgraduate Support.
Image: Professor Maria Papathanasopoulos giving remarks at the lecture
Ambassador Dong-han Yang of the Republic of Korea to SA lamented the sentiment for a collaboration. "I also hope that today's lecturer will serve as a platform to explore new avenues for health corporation between our two countries which will allow and alleviate healthcare standards but [and] will also contribute to global health improvement," said Ambassador Yang.
Image: Ambassador Dong-han Yang addressing the attendees ahead of the lecture.
Professor Maria Papathanasopoulos adds that "Immediate areas of collaboration with the faculty that can be explored further include those with the Department of Diagnostic Radiology, novel diagnostic assays with the Wits Diagnostics Innovation Hub and in the Infectious Diseases space, for example, looking at the utility of the handheld REMEDI X-Ray instrument to diagnose community-acquired TB, and TB among household contacts.