Many are unsuitable for the local environment, breaking down under harsh conditions like extreme heat, high dust levels, and limited storage space. Others become unusable due to a lack of spare parts or the inability to repair them. As a result, the gap in healthcare access continues to grow, especially in district hospitals, which are often the first point of care for many communities in need. Laparoscopic surgery, a minimally invasive procedure, has the potential to revolutionize surgical care in these settings—not only by reducing infection rates, shortening recovery times, and improving patient outcomes but also by serving as an alternative to costly diagnostic infrastructure and preventing unnecessary open surgeries.

However, the high costs and fragility of conventional laparoscopic equipment have hindered its widespread adoption. EasyTower is a breakthrough solution designed to bridge this gap. This cost-effective and durable mobile surgical unit integrates critical laparoscopic devices into a single, compact system while ensuring seamless operation through power outages. By replacing expensive components with a laptop-based system and using locally available materials for production and repairs, EasyTower extends the lifespan of medical equipment, preventing unnecessary waste and making surgical care more accessible.

More than just a technological innovation, EasyTower represents a shift towards sustainable healthcare for all—ensuring that essential medical resources are not only available but also adaptable to the needs of the communities they serve. By minimizing equipment failure and reducing reliance on costly imports, EasyTower paves the way for a more resilient and self-sufficient healthcare system, where life-saving surgical care is within reach for every patient, regardless of their location. To better understand the impact and potential of EasyTower, Supertrends sat down with its inventor, Ioana Drilea, to discuss the inspiration behind this groundbreaking innovation. In this interview, she shares her journey in developing EasyTower, the challenges she encountered, and how this practical, cost-effective solution is set to transform surgical care in low-resource settings. From tackling equipment scarcity to ensuring long-term sustainability, Drilea offers valuable insights into how EasyTower is paving the way for a more inclusive and resilient healthcare system.

Supertrends: What inspired you to develop EasyTower? Was there a specific experience or observation that motivated this solution?

Ioana Drilea: My inspiration came from the tension between two key requirements I identified during my research. On one hand, there is a need for a compact, mobile solution, while on the other, there is a need for a durable, long-term piece of equipment. As I worked to develop a frugal innovation, I was intrigued by this apparent contradiction. How can something be both portable and compact while still being robust and long-lasting? Exploring this challenge ultimately led me to the foldable design of EasyTower.

Supertrends: How does your device compare in terms of cost and functionality to traditional laparoscopic equipment?

Ioana Drilea: EasyTower represents a fundamental shift in how laparoscopic surgery can be performed. Typically, a laparoscopic stack consists of multiple devices—a scope, light source, image processing unit, insufflator, and screen—which makes the setup costly and difficult to maintain. Instead of following this expensive model, I realized that laptops and tablets already have the processing power to replace the light source, image processor, and screen when used with a re-designed scope tailored for this application. By integrating this systematic change, EasyTower significantly reduces the amount of equipment needed for laparoscopic procedures. This makes surgical care more accessible and helps prevent the creation of medical equipment graveyards in sub-Saharan Africa.

Supertrends: How have hospitals responded to the solution you provided? Are there any success stories or testimonials you can share?

Ioana Drilea: The response has been overwhelmingly positive. Surgeons and biomedical engineers particularly appreciated its ability to be opened and closed easily. Through this experience, I learned how crucial it is to have a working prototype during field studies—it serves as an essential communication tool for engaging different stakeholders. Unlike sketches, renders, or descriptions, a physical prototype immediately conveys the concept and its benefits. During one field study, I had a memorable interaction that reinforced the practicality of EasyTower. A surgeon was helping me move the prototype between hospital buildings when another surgeon stopped him and asked, “Why are you pushing your own equipment around?” The assumption that medical equipment was naturally being transported inside the unit confirmed that the design fits seamlessly into the hospital environment—exactly what I aimed to achieve.

Supertrends: What are the main challenges you foresee in scaling the production and distribution of EasyTower across low- and middle-income countries?

Ioana Drilea: One challenge is the high reliance on manual labor in the manufacturing process. While this is an advantage—allowing EasyTower to be produced locally using simple, durable materials—it could also become a limiting factor for large-scale production. Finding a balance between handcrafted manufacturing and scalable production methods will be key to expanding its reach.

Supertrends: How did you decide on the components for EasyTower to ensure they are easily sourced and repairable locally?

Ioana Drilea: I drew inspiration from flight cases—sturdy transport containers used worldwide. Wherever a plane lands, there’s a flight case, which speaks to their ubiquity and durability. By using simple materials that can be processed in local workshops, EasyTower ensures easy local repairs. Many hospitals have in-house workshops that maintain both medical devices and essential hardware like hospital beds. Designing EasyTower so it can be repaired using existing tools makes maintenance more feasible and sustainable.

Supertrends: What measures have you taken to ensure EasyTower remains functional in areas with frequent power outages or grid instability?

Ioana Drilea: EasyTower includes an uninterruptible power supply to prevent interruptions during surgery. This backup system ensures continued functionality even during power fluctuations or outages, which are common challenges in many low-resource settings.

Supertrends: How does your device contribute to reducing medical waste, particularly discarded surgical equipment, in sub-Saharan Africa?

Ioana Drilea: Reducing the amount of equipment required is the first step. EasyTower not only minimizes the number of devices needed for laparoscopic surgery but also eliminates interdependencies between donated medical devices. A common issue with donated laparoscopic equipment is that hospitals might receive a full stack, but the lack of interoperability between different brands and models makes some components unusable. This means both broken equipment and functional equipment often go to waste simply because they aren’t compatible. By integrating key functionalities into one adaptable system, EasyTower helps prevent both types of waste, promoting more efficient and sustainable surgical care.

Supertrends: Do you envision EasyTower being adapted or expanded for other medical procedures or contexts in the future?

Ioana Drilea: Absolutely! Many types of minimally invasive surgeries use similar equipment to laparoscopy. Surgeons I’ve worked with have mentioned arthroscopy as a potential next application for EasyTower. During fieldwork, I noticed that uroscopy and ENT (Ear, Nose, and Throat) surgeries are more commonly performed in district hospitals, as they have lower adoption barriers. Targeting these procedures for early adoption could be beneficial, even though they don’t require an insufflation function like laparoscopy does. While the primary goal was to focus on laparoscopy, I realized that including additional equipment, like diathermy, could enhance the system. This would create an integrated surgical kit that could support a wider range of keyhole surgeries.

Supertrends: What do you see as the biggest barriers to improving surgical care in low- and middle-income countries, and how does your innovation address these barriers?

Ioana Drilea: After observing surgeries firsthand and spending over a month in the field, one stark reality stood out: delays in accessing surgical care lead to advanced-stage conditions that would be diagnosed earlier in high-resource settings. Reducing these delays is crucial, but the challenges are systemic. Unlike treating an infectious disease, where the pathway from diagnosis to treatment is relatively straightforward, surgical care requires multiple steps—from seeking medical attention to undergoing a lengthy diagnostic process before treatment.

One of the biggest barriers is the lack of diagnostic infrastructure at the early stages of care. I hope EasyTower can help reduce delays by ensuring that surgical equipment is always functional and by enabling minimally invasive procedures that double as diagnostic tools. This could prevent unnecessary open surgeries and streamline the treatment process.

Supertrends: How do you think EasyTower could inspire further innovations in medical equipment for underserved regions?

Ioana Drilea: There are still very few medical devices designed specifically for low-resource settings from the ground up. I’m proud to contribute one more solution to the growing field of context-driven medical innovation. The most important lesson I’ve learned is that real expertise lies with the people facing these challenges daily. As outsiders, we can listen, research, and design, but we can’t truly experience these problems the way local healthcare workers do. Collaboration is key. From problem definition to design and implementation, working closely with local stakeholders creates a two-way exchange—we gain insight from real experts, while also empowering them with tools to drive future innovations. The more we embrace this approach, the more sustainable and effective medical solutions will become.

A Promising Step Toward Sustainable Surgical Care

EasyTower presents a thoughtful response to some of the most pressing challenges in surgical care in low-resource settings. By reducing equipment needs, increasing durability, and ensuring local repairability, it has the potential to improve access to laparoscopic surgery and make medical care more sustainable. However, like any innovation, its widespread adoption will depend on practical challenges—from ensuring local manufacturing capacity to integrating it into existing hospital workflows.

Questions remain about how hospitals and health systems will fund and implement such solutions, and whether training and support structures will be sufficient to maximize its impact. Yet, despite these uncertainties, EasyTower represents a step in the right direction. It demonstrates that medical equipment can be designed with real-world conditions in mind, prioritizing adaptability over standardization. If successful, it could pave the way for similar innovations that challenge conventional models of surgical care and bring practical, lasting improvements to healthcare in underserved regions.

While the road to large-scale implementation may have hurdles, solutions like EasyTower offer a glimpse of what is possible when medical design is driven by local realities and long-term sustainability.