Biomedical Engineering in Nigeria: A Developmental Overview

Abstract

Biomedical Engineering (BME) activities in Nigeria can be said to have started in the 1970s during which collaborative efforts were made by engineers, medical doctors, pharmacists, physicists, technicians and other scientist. Although, the pace of development was hitherto slow, most efforts were in the area of training - short courses, continuing education or professional development. However, the coming of NIBE in 1999 has propelled a steady progress of BME activities in Nigeria. This is rightly so, because Nigerian BME professionals from 1999 started addressing issues concerning them as a professional group. BME activities in Nigeria was further given a big boost in 2007, when the first undergraduate programme in BME started in the Federal University of Technology, Owerri, Nigeria with NIBE contributing the foundation members of faculty. NIBE, which stands for Nigerian Institute for Biomedical Engineering, represents the BME profession and its members in Nigeria and in international organisations. Established in 1999 with the vision “to develop and advance the biomedical science, health and human well-being of Nigeria through modern technological approaches comparable to those obtainable in any developed country of the world”, NIBE has members largely of the various sciences and classical engineering disciplines from universities and hospitals as well as from other institutions/organisations. It has a membership list of over 2000 members, but financially active membership fluctuates between 100 and 200 depending on the BME activity of each year. NIBE is currently structured in 5 divisions - biological engineering; medical engineering; clinical engineering; rehabilitation engineering; and biomedical physics / allied sciences - to accommodate virtually every field in the sciences. It had its 1st annual BME conference in 2000. Since then it has organised 9 national biomedical engineering conferences and 6 national professional development courses in Nigeria. NIBE has published a newsletter, news@nibe since 2000; a professional journal, Nigerian Journal of Biomedical Engineering since 2001; and electronic mail news, e-nibe since 2003. In 2003, NIBE was admitted as the 50th member of IFMBE. The same year, she co-founded the African Union of Biomedical Engineering and Sciences (AUBES) in Ghana while some members were on a Medical Equipment Training. AUBES was established in order to integrate the effort of various African BME professionals and to expand cooperation on a continental basis. Since 2003, NIBE has made effort with AUBES to pioneer the development of BME in Africa. AUBES’s official inauguration and the 1st African Biomedical Conference scheduled to hold in 2005 in Nigeria was cancelled for logistic reasons. However, sustained effort is being geared towards its official inauguration in 2016 in Nigeria. The role of NIBE in developing BME in Nigeria is mainly as a membership group to develop resources for BME by evolving adequate training programmes for members, facilitating accreditation and certification of professionals practicing BME in Nigeria. NIBE is expected to continue to give its members a sense of belonging by becoming the mouth piece of BME professionals in Nigeria. All these development efforts should be a matter of concern for the international BME community.