IRCAD to unveil the high-tech surgery centre in Rwanda
Posted on : Monday, 8th February 2021
In 2018, the government of Rwanda embarked on a new journey to establish an IRCAD centre in Kigali through the Ministry of Health in partnership with IRCAD France, a global institution dedicated to advancing and teaching minimally invasive surgery.
By closing the technology and knowledge gap in the field of research and training, the partnership aims to improve and advance surgery in Africa.
The IRCAD Africa Center, set to be unveiled in 2021, will allow African surgeons with some of the world-renowned experts who have been partnering with IRCAD for over 25 years to access some of the best surgery training programmes and more precisely in minimally invasive surgery.
The Managing Director of IRCAD Africa, David Kamanda, said that IRCAD Africa has been operational since 2019 from its temporary offices in Kigali City Center. Currently, the activities of IRCAD Africa focus primarily on research and development (R&D) in automated 3D medical image modelling, surgical planning and software modelling, as well as augmented reality.
IRCAD Africa is very lucky to have great universities in Kigali, such as the University of Rwanda, Carnegie Mellon University Africa (CMU-Africa) and the African Institute for Mathematical Sciences (AIMS), which have allowed talented engineers to be recruited in a smooth and easy way.
As for the centre itself, in the Masaka sector, construction of the IRCAD Africa centre began in the summer of 2019 and is expected to be finished in the fall of 2021. The construction of the centre will be accompanied by the dedication and launching of the African continent's first ever IRCAD Institute. In the fall of 2021, the IRCAD Africa team is looking forward to welcoming surgeons and engineers from around the continent and the globe.
IRCAD Africa Vice President Dr. Guillaume Marescaux said that it was a "no-brainer" to create IRCAD Africa in Rwanda as the country offers a very favourable climate. In addition, the goals of the organisation are in line with the vision of the government in terms of innovation and health.
“Africa has consistently proved itself to be the birthplace of potential science experts. So far, all of the young surgeons and engineers we have worked with from Rwanda and across the continent have inspired us very much. As we are focused on developing the largest research team in Africa for artificial intelligence (AI), this has been very inspiring.”
IRCAD Africa opens doors to any artificial intelligence engineer involved in designing health technologies for artificial intelligence, according to Dr. Alexandre Hostettler, Head of the IRCAD Surgical Data Science (R&D) Unit.
He announced that IRCAD France and IRCAD Africa are jointly planning to begin one of the biggest IRCAD research and development initiatives to date. The project would open up several opportunities for artificial intelligence engineers planning to work or advance their education in the healthcare field by conducting studies through doctoral opportunities.
