Oman Minister honours two medical students for their invention

Dr. Ahmed bin Mohammed Al Sa’eedi, Minister of Health yesterday honoured two medical students from the Nursing College of the University of Nizwa; Amira bint Said Al Abri and Ish’har bint Said Al Malki for winning recently a gold medal at the 46th International Exhibition of Inventions in Geneva, Switzerland.

The two students won the medal for inventing a device to monitor the blood glucose for the elderly and those with disabilities, especially the blind people. More than 123 inventors from different countries around the world took part in this field.

The Minister of Health praised the efforts of the students who represented the Sultanate in this international competition.

The students briefed the Minister of Health on the system work of the device, as well as the phases they have been taken to develop it.

The participation in this competition came as a personal initiative of Health Pioneers team composed of Amira Al Abri and Ish’har Al Malki in collaboration with the Engineers Al Mu’taz Al Malki and Meshal Al Ma’amari with the support of Universityof Nizwa.

This device is the first-of-its-kind in the world where the two students added three new properties; sound, light and vibration.

In addition, the elderly and disabled people including the blind could use the device on their own without getting help. It has an application for the Apple and Android cellphones to store the readings in order to easy for the doctor to monitor the patient’s case periodically.

On winning this award, Amira Al Abri said: “It is an indescribable feeling. Initially, we were depressed due to good inventors participating in the competition in the medical field, but now we are very happy”. Ish’har Al Malki also thanked all those who supported them, especially University of Nizwa and hoped all concerned companies and authorities to support them to introduce the device in the local and international markets.