25/03/2026
Up to 70% of medical equipment in African hospitals is non-functional at any given time.
Not because the devices are poor quality — but because they were never designed for the environments they’re deployed in.
No reliable power. Extreme heat and humidity. Shortage of biomedical engineers. Fragmented supply chains. Unpredictable regulatory timelines.
If you’re building medical hardware for Africa, you’re not just competing against other devices. You’re competing against broken devices nobody can fix.
In my latest blog post, I break down what it actually takes to build, deploy, and maintain medical devices across the continent — including:
✅ Why design-for-environment is non-negotiable
✅ The certification landscape country by country
✅ Business models that work (leasing, pay-per-use, EaaS)
✅ The maintenance infrastructure most founders ignore
✅ Real lessons from Zipline, Philips, GE, and the COVID ventilator contrast between Kenya and South Africa
Hardware is the infrastructure layer that digital health, diagnostics, and clinical care all depend on. Get it right, and you’re not building a product — you’re building critical health infrastructure.
Read the full post 👇
🔗 https://hamzaasumah.org/2026/03/21/hardware-is-hard-but-not-impossible-what-it-really-takes-to-build-deploy-and-maintain-medical-devices-in-africa/
Hamza Asumah, MD, MBA, MPH The 40-70% Problem African hospitals report 40–70% of equipment being non-functional at any given time due to poor maintenance, lack of spare parts, and fragmented supply…
