The ‘geek event’: AKU holds fourth edition of Ignite

Eight igniters discussed their ideas and gave presentations at the session

KARACHI: The much-awaited fourth edition of the geek event 'Ignite' was held at Aga Khan University Hospital (AKU) on Monday, in which eight igniters gave presentations on separate topics.

The eight igniters at the event included people from different walks of life, including doctors, students, entrepreneurs and research associates. A series of presentations were presented at the Ignite 4, which is the brainchild of The Critical, Creative and Innovative Thinking (CCIT) Forum in Pakistan.



Lubaina Ehsan, a third-year medical student of AKU, discussed the importance of pictorial representation. Ehsan used her immense love for drawing and talked about doodles, hoping to raise level of awareness among the people through pamphlets and by having proper representation of medical treatment through pictures.

Dr Mirza Noor Ali, who works at the emergency department of AKU, talked about the importance of cardio pulmonary resuscitation, which can also be called as the immediate response to a heart attack. Talking about the death of his mother, Dr Ali said that his mother died of a heart attack because nobody was there to treat her immediately and he was at AKU, which was about 15 to 20 minutes away from home. "We should train our society about the immediate response to such diseases and attacks," he said.

Sarmad Muhammad, a nursing student at AKU, presented a play therapy through presentation slides. He talked about how toys can be used to heal stress and fear among children at the hospital, including the fear of medical equipment or seeing strangers in the hospital.



Journalist Eve Ahmed joined the event through voice call and talked about writing therapy, which can help control stress and anxiety. Sex education and abuse was another prominent topic that was discussed at the event. While addressing the audience, Baila Shakaib said that the people are still afraid to give their children proper sex education. In this crucial time, it has become really important to educate the children about this, she said.

Hamza Iqbal, a student of Lahore University of Management Sciences, presented an idea for an application called the 'Health Wire' and talked about healthcare accessibility. The app will present a list of doctors to help people get appointments using the app, he said.

In our society, healthcare is a matter of luck and this concept needs to be abolished, Iqbal said, adding that healthcare is the right of everyone and should be accessible to all.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 27^th, 2016.