The Rwanda Biomedical Centre (RBC) is studying the use of disinfection kiosks, a made-in-Rwanda anti-Covid-19 solution that technologically facilitates full-body disinfection.
Made by SMS Group - a local tech company, the kiosks are mainly designed to automatically spray disinfectants on individuals who walk through them, in addition to other functions like hand sanitization, temperature measuring, and automated collection of information from individuals in one place, and in a short time.
On Tuesday, August 18, SMS Group officials handed over one of the finished pieces to RBC so that the medics will use it, inspect its performance, and suggest addition of features that they may find necessary.
According to Dr. Sabin Nsanzimana the Director-General of RBC, SMS Group has been working in consultation with officials from RBC while developing this technology. He added that it is a good development, and there is hope that it can be rolled out to benefit the wider society of Rwanda.
RBC expects to work with the SMS Group to develop a suitable information collection system for the technology.
During the time that the kiosk will be stationed at the RBC headquarters, the medics will also look to gather more ideas from the ordinary users of the technology in case more features still need to be added.
Nsanzimana praised the spirit of responsibility among the Rwandans that develop such solutions, saying it is good for the general public to recognise that the Covid-19 battle is not for specific people but for everyone.
Speaking on the behalf of SMS Group, Mike Byusa, the Managing Partner in the company said the idea for developing this technology came up as a result of their team thinking about setting up one terminal where different Covid-19 preventive measures can be found.
"We thought of something that can combine various measures together. With this technology, you can have your temperature measured, hands sanitized, key individual information collected, and your whole body disinfected in one place.”
Such a kiosk costs Rwf10,350,000, but there are cheaper models that don’t have the option of collect information costing about Rwf3.5 million.
SMS Group said they are capable of manufacturing up to five kiosks in a day but can step up their capacity depending on the demand that is there.
Once fully rolled out, the kiosks will be set up at places where many people meet including churches, schools, markets and shopping malls among others.
All the raw materials for making the kiosks were sourced in Rwanda, except for cameras that could not be found on local market.
The kiosks have a 40-litre tank that can be filled with sanitizing liquid. Every forty litres can treat up to 1200 people, that is about 30 people per litre.