MUST continues to reaffirm its commitment to nurturing innovations that can improve lives and benefit communities.

The commitment was highlighted on August 13, 2026, during the Electronic Medical Record System Innovation Challenge held in Blantyre, where MUST students were given an opportunity to use their knowledge and creativity to address a real challenge in Malawi’s health sector.

The challenge brought together 11 student teams from different programmes who were tasked with designing and prototyping a practical, safe, user-friendly and scalable Electronic Medical Record (EMR) system that can support efficient healthcare delivery in Malawi, including the MUST Teaching Hospital.

After presenting their ideas and prototypes, MEDTech Innovators emerged as the winners, walking away with K3 million.

Speaking at the end of the challenge, Executive Dean of the Academy of Medical Sciences (AMS) at MUST, Dr Mwayiwawo Madanitsa, said the university remains committed to supporting innovations that can have a wider impact on society.

The challenge also highlighted the growing need for digital solutions in Malawi’s health sector.

Director of Quality Management and Digital Health in the Ministry of Health and Sanitation, Dr Andrew Gonani, said the world is moving towards digitalisation and that the health sector cannot be left behind.

He said the continued use of paper-based records creates challenges in managing patient information.

“For example, health passports are kept in hard copy. When they are lost, it becomes difficult for health workers to trace a patient’s previous medical records,” he said.

MUST organised the challenge in partnership with Global Solutions Limited, whose Managing Director, Michael Chikwana, said the hackathon was both exciting and challenging, as all the participating teams brought forward strong ideas.

He commended MUST for maintaining its relationship with his company, saying the partnership is contributing to the development of solutions that can benefit not only the two institutions but Malawi as a whole.

For the winning team, the achievement was a proud moment and a reward for their hard work.

Arthur Kapatuka and Precious Kaipa, both fresh Bachelor of Science in Business Information Technology from MUST, said they were excited to emerge as winners.

They described the challenge as demanding but said they remained focused throughout the process.

"We believe that the effort we put in and keeping God at the centre of our work helped us to move from the application stage to the final hackathon and eventually emerge victorious," said Arthur.

The two also credited MUST for equipping them with the skills and knowledge that enabled them to turn their ideas into a practical solution.

Meanwhile, VAC Innovations finished in second place and received K2 million while Grand Gaze came third and received K1 million.

The challenge demonstrated how young innovators can use the skills gained at university to respond to real-life challenges. 

For MUST, this was not only a competition but an opportunity for students to turn knowledge into solutions that could help shape the future of healthcare in Malawi.