TEDMED Egypt

Year by year, Egypt turns out one of the highest numbers of graduate doctors in the region. Though it may not seem like it, given the average quality of care here, our medical industry is a thriving one and one group of students are working hard to make sure that it only gets better. TEDMED – a version of TEDEX, dedicated to the medical field and its young innovators – is an idea that that has been spreading across the world to motivate and mobilise students and professionals to look at their work in a new light. Thanks to a group of gregarious go-getters at Ain-Shams University, TEDMED has now made its way to Cairo with their first event planned to take place in April, 2014.

“At its core, TEDMED aims to celebrate human achievement and hopes to become the power to connect the unconnected in creative ways to change the world in health and medicine,” one of the TEDMED Club-Egypt founders, Ahmed Bahaa, tells us. Undertaking quite the challenge in a country where prescriptions are often written on a whim, and one might need to spend a small fortune for high quality treatment. “It aims to restore people’s sense of hope and possibility, to connect with people of common goals but varied experiences in search of the unexpected... to rededicate people to taking a leadership approach in their lives.”

Currently recruiting team members – “Students or graduates of Faculties of Medicine, Dentistry and Pharmacy of all Egyptian Universities, as well as any creative individuals with working experience in any medical or health fields related projects looking to unleash their talents in a useful and professional environment on a volunteer basis can apply,” – the organisation hopes to face and solve some of the biggest challenge facing the medical field in Egypt today. Social, commercial, economic, regulatory, cultural and medical issues make up a “complex web of poorly understood interdependencies” which, as the organisers of TEDMED believe, can only be solved with innovation and critical thinking.

If you think you’ve got what it takes to revolutionise the field, you can get in touch with the organisers on the TEDMED Club-Egypt’s Facebook page to apply. “High calibre TEDMED members who possess serious passion and interest in the future of health and medicine, will develop innovative structures, plans and concepts to be part of the annual TEDMED Live events to deliver interesting and out-of-the-box content to event attendees,” says Bahaa.