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Reflecting on a 1995 story from the UST Newsletter edited by G. A. Mensah-Agboh.

In 1995, a simple press of a button at the then UST Hospital did more than summon a nurse, it made history. Designed and installed by final-year students from the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, the system was a pioneering digital nurse call device.

The innovation was developed to bridge a critical gap in patient–nurse communication. With the press of a button at the patient’s bedside, the system triggered a printed readout of the room and bed number at the nurse’s station, accompanied by an audio alert. For its time, this was transformative: no more shouting for help or waiting in uncertainty, assistance was just a button away.

Three decades later that student-led innovation has matured and can now be seen in more sophisticated form at the Osei Tutu II Medical Centre located within the ���������� Hospital.

Printouts then

Back then, names like Mr. Christian Djan President of the Electrical and Electronic Engineering Students Association (ELEESA) and faculty members such as Dr. Jackson and Professor Kumapley stood behind a generation of students determined to show that engineering could and should solve real-life problems.

The 1995 device worked through a network of wired sensors. Each hospital bed had a call button connected to a central nurse station. Once pressed a buzzer sounded and a small printer issued a slip indicating where help was needed. The Ashanti Regional Minister at the time Mr. Daniel Ohene-Agyekum was so impressed that he promised to champion the system’s expansion across other wards.

Digital dashboards now

Currently, the Osei Tutu II Medical Centre at ���������� Hospital, has adopted a centralized patient alert system linked to a digital dashboard at the nurses’ station. Instead of printouts and buzzers a soft tone alerts nurses while a screen instantly displays the room bed number and even patient name of the person needing attention. Each bed is connected wirelessly and the dashboard interface helps nurses prioritize care especially during emergencies.

More importantly this modern system maintains the core idea from 1995, ��giving patients the power to call for help with dignity and ensuring that caregivers can respond efficiently.

Though separated by time and technology the 1995 and 2025 systems share more than just function. They share values. Both were responses to a real need. And both remind us that meaningful innovation doesn’t always begin in big laboratories. Sometimes it starts with a student a wire and a problem worth solving.

In the words of the 1995 Hospital Director Dr. J. S. Dakorah who received the original device “May more of such inventions follow.” At the Osei Tutu II Medical Centre and likely elsewhere across campus that wish continues to come true.