On-site construction of a point-of-care low-field MRI system in Africa

Point-of-care (POC) low-field MRI systems have a large potential to increase the accessibility and sustainability of MRI in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). An important step in translating scientific developments from high-income countries to LMICs is technology that can be assembled or constructed locally. We describe the construction and testing of a POC system on site in Africa. All components to assemble a 50 mT Halbach magnet based system, together with the necessary tools, were air-freighted from The Netherlands to Uganda. With four instructors and six untrained personnel, the complete project from delivery to first image took approximately 11 days.