Belfast-based business MedAll is helping medics to keep training and sharing knowledge in places where war has brought everything to a halt, thanks to its app.
CEO Philip McElnay says hundreds of thousands of medics use the app nationally and internationally including in Palestine, Ukraine and Sudan where conflict presents specific challenges.
“As doctors we all aim to treat the patient in front of us without any judgement or differentiation based on their political views,” he said.
“That means in war, when you have less access to resources, everybody loses. Patients, children and adults don’t get access to best possible medical care, which is painful for a doctor when you can’t give the best possible care you want to. In many circumstances war is not planned; it’s not something that every medic is trained to cope with, so in those circumstances it makes it vitally important that we are able to scale up training education, training and resources rapidly for those countries that are affected.”
There are 11 countries in Africa without a single medical school, according to Dr McElnay, and he says the app allows doctors in these countries to maintain their skills, thus democratising access to educational resources.
“That’s the impact you can begin to make... For us that is really impactful. We see the numbers, we see the millions of views on MedAll every single month from 170+ countries,” he added.
Dr Maram Elmutasim from Sudan said doctors in her country are “working tirelessly to treat the victims of a horrifying war”.
“I’ve had colleagues tell me about how MedAll gave them hope, especially new medical graduates who had their medical training interrupted. I’ve also seen a lot of enthusiasm from doctors in Sudan about the fair access MedAll provides to conferences as it is also currently a huge obstacle to be able to afford travel to international medical conferences.”
Ashok Kumar Arumugam was in the middle of studying for his medical degree when he had to flee Ukraine following the Russian invasion in February 2022. He has used the learning platform app to help get his training back on track.
Ashok is one of many Ukrainian students using MedAll, which teaches them in partnership with organisations like the UK Crisis Rescue Foundation., and he is researching medical schools in advance of applying to one in order to finish his degree.
