an itinerant observer

Innovative app wins top prize at AKU’s first-ever Hackathon Four innovative solutions in emergency medicine receive awards Innovators at Pakistan’s first-ever medical hackat​hon at the Aga Khan University have proposed new ways of tackling challenges facing Pakistan’s emergency rooms (ER). HistorER , the winning team at the Hackathon, came up with a unique QR (quick response) code system to address a persistent challenge faced by ER doctors. Patients are often brought to emergency by family members or by bystanders who are not aware of their medical history. In the absence of critical information, doctors face delays in performing life-saving procedures.     The HistorER team has suggested that every person carry a medical card with a QR code with vital details: blood group, allergies, current medication and previous operations. Scanned, the QR code would provide doctors immediate access to information and the ability to ini...

Boston skyline from across Charles River How it all Started and Leading up to the Event A year back I was at a medical conference in Boston. In between sessions, with my mind phased out by the academic overdrive, I came across a promotional flyer for a certain ‘Medical Hackathon’ to be organized by MIT as part of their ‘ Hacking Medicine’ initiative. Unclear what it was about, I asked my team at the Aga Khan University in Karachi, Pakistan, to investigate further. My team and I had been expanding ‘Critical Creative Innovative Thinking’ - a platform pushing for reformation in thinking and doing via biomedicine and healthcare for low-resource countries; hence, they found this event quite relatable and the response I received from the very capable young colleagues, predominantly medical students, excited me. Medical hackathons were events in which MIT Hacking Medicine brought together engineers, clinicians, entrepreneurs, designers and financiers to ‘hack out’ tangible solu...