MedCamp

Inspiration

In developing countries, most people who need medicines have to pay for them out of their own pockets. The increasing prices of medicines have made it very difficult for the lower and middle-class people of these countries to purchase them on their own. This problem inspired me to build an application that can solve this growing issue.

What it does

MedCamp is a web app that aims to bridge the gap between NGOs and medicine donors. People often throw their unused medicines into the dustbin while they could donate them to people who actually need the medicines but can't afford them due to the high cost.

MedCamp allows donors to create accounts and view NGOs based on their location. On finding a suitable NGO, donors can send a donation request with the list of medicines and their details. Once the request is received the NGOs can contact the donor, and accept the donation. MedCamp also stores the past donation records for both the NGO and the donor.

How I built it

I began by setting up cockroachcloud for the database. Then I created the backend APIs using express js and connected the database. I used Sequelize as the ORM to interact withCockroachDB. On the client-side I used React js and material UI. I also implemented email authentication using firebase auth.

Challenges we ran into

• Being a NoSQL DB user, the biggest challenge for me was to connect and communicate with CockroachDB. Although I am familiar with using other databases, I wanted to challenge myself to learn something new by using CockroachDB. It proved to be a great decision as I successfully implemented the app and learnt to use CockroachDB.

• Due to timezone differences I couldn't find a suitable team member, instead of giving up, I decided to work solo on the project. It was indeed a challenge working on both the client and server-side alone but ultimately it proved to be the right decision, as I managed to build the app successfully.

Accomplishments that I am proud of

• Implementing firebase auth.
• Successfully connecting and communicating with CockroachDB.
• Creating a platform that solves a real-world problem.
• Leveraging a 3-tier architecture of the frontend (react), backend (node js) and data (CockroachDB)

What I learned

I learned to use CockroachDB and communicating with it using Sequelize ORM.

What's next for MedCamp

• Improve and create a modern UI for the whole platform.
• Add features that I planned to add but didn't have time to implement.
• Increase security on the server-side.
• Allow NGOs to create and manage medicine distribution events on the platform itself.
• Add support for medicine data verification.

Built With

• cockroach-db
• firebase
• node.js
• react