UAE student buildsloan app to help Hajj, Umrah pilgrims communicate in emergencies
UAE university student has developed an artificial intelligence-powered platform designed to help Hajj and Umrah pilgrims overcome language barriers during medical emergencies.
Suhba, created by Nasima Mohammed Helal, a fourth-year Biomedical Engineering student at Ajman University, enables pilgrims to describe their symptoms in their preferred language, understand how urgently they may need help and locate nearby medical facilities.
The prototype currently supports seven languages, including Arabic, Bangla and Urdu. In an emergency, it can also produce an Arabic SOS card summarising the pilgrim’s medical needs, which can be shown to first responders, officials or bystanders.
For Helal, the idea was inspired by experiences from her early childhood in Saudi Arabia, where she saw how language differences could make communication difficult.
“During Hajj and Umrah, this challenge is magnified by the scale and diversity of the crowds coming from around the world,” she said.
“In a medical emergency, where every second matters, language barriers can prevent patients from clearly communicating their symptoms or needs, potentially delaying critical care.”
From symptoms to medical support
Millions of pilgrims from different countries, age groups and linguistic backgrounds travel to Saudi Arabia for Hajj and Umrah. Amid large crowds and high temperatures, they may experience heat exhaustion, heatstroke, dehydration, cardiovascular emergencies or complications associated with chronic medical conditions.
Although a pilgrim may realise that something is wrong, Helal said they might be unable to explain their symptoms, ask for assistance or understand instructions from emergency responders.
“A language barrier, which may seem simple in everyday life, can become life-threatening during an emergency,” she said.
Suhba is designed to bridge that gap. Users enter information about their symptoms, existing medical conditions, location and the stage of the pilgrimage they are undertaking.
The platform then uses AI to assess the information, indicate the possible level of urgency and provide guidance on what the user should do next. It also considers contextual factors such as environmental heat and the physical demands associated with different Hajj rituals.
If the situation appears to be an emergency, the platform generates an Arabic SOS card containing a concise summary of the person’s medical need. It can also display nearby Red Crescent medical facilities, together with distance and navigation information.
The aim, Helal explained, is to help pilgrims move more quickly from recognising a potentially serious problem to communicating it and accessing professional care.
Safety at the centre of the design
Helal stressed that Suhba is not intended to diagnose patients or replace doctors.
“Safety was one of the most important considerations while developing Suhba,” she said. “I did not want the AI to simply generate unrestricted medical responses.”
The system was grounded using official medical information and designed to direct people in high-risk situations towards professional or emergency care.
“Its role is to help someone recognise when a situation may be serious, communicate their need more effectively and reach the appropriate medical support faster,” she added.
Balancing usefulness with patient safety was one of the project’s biggest challenges, as an inaccurate AI-generated medical response could have serious consequences.
Multilingual accessibility presented another technical challenge, particularly when developing right-to-left interfaces for Arabic and Urdu. The platform also had to remain simple enough for people of different ages and levels of technological familiarity to use during stressful situations.
From hackathon idea to working prototype
Helal developed Suhba while participating in the Kanz AI Hackathon, where she was selected among the Top 20 globally.
She used Replit to build the application, working with React and TypeScript through prompt-based development. She also used NotebookLM to organise official health guidelines for the platform’s medical knowledge base.
Other tools introduced during the hackathon included ElevenLabs, n8n and Claude.
“One of my goals was to incorporate the tools and concepts I learned during the Kanz AI Hackathon itself,” she said.
As a biomedical engineering student, Helal said the competition allowed her to apply her academic knowledge to a real healthcare challenge and explore how emerging technologies could address societal needs.
“Being selected among the Top 20 globally was extremely meaningful to me,” she said. “It showed me that an idea developed by a student, focused on a very specific healthcare problem, could still resonate on a global level.”
The experience also strengthened her determination to continue exploring the intersection of biomedical engineering, AI and healthcare innovation.
More testing needed before deployment Suhba remains a prototype and would require substantial testing, clinical review and collaboration before it could be deployed during Hajj or Umrah.
Helal said the next stage would involve incorporating verified medical-facility and on-the-ground data. The AI system would also need to be further developed using validated information, with its outputs extensively reviewed by clinicians and specialist doctors.
A pilot involving real users could then assess the platform’s accuracy, safety and ease of use before any wider deployment.
Her long-term ambition is to work with clinicians, technical experts and other partners to determine whether Suhba could support pilgrims and help prevent medical situations from becoming more serious.
“I strongly believe in preventive healthcare,” Helal said. “Rather than waiting for a situation to become critical before responding, technology can help us identify risks earlier and guide people towards the right support before the situation escalates.”
Her advice to other young innovators is to begin with a genuine problem rather than the technology itself.
“Make sure there is a real need before deciding where AI fits into the solution, and use it responsibly, with the focus always on creating meaningful impact,” she said.
“Most importantly, stay curious. Do not be afraid to take the first step. Sometimes, you learn the most by simply starting.”
