From departure gate to return gate,
one patch.
Issued at check-in, read at Arafat, read again on the flight home.
Issued by the airline before boarding, read by cabin crew in flight, by local rescuers at the holy sites and by the home hospital after return. Seamless safety built by the pilgrimage operator and the airline together.
For airlines flying Islamic pilgrimage charters and group routes, for the operators and group leaders who put the groups together, and for families sending their parents on pilgrimage.
Between the airline, the operator and local hospitals, information disappears
- A pilgrimage is a journey where the airline, the operator and the local hospitals each act separately, and in an accident the information falls between them.
- The passenger list stays at the airline counter and the group list at the operator's office. The pilgrim who collapses at Arafat carries neither, and white ihram leaves hardly anywhere to keep an ID.
- Local paramedics speak Arabic; the pilgrims speak Malay, Indonesian or Bengali. An elderly pilgrim who collapses cannot name their medication or their group leader's number.
- On a charter flight there is no internet to rely on, and the crew have no way of knowing what each elderly pilgrim is allergic to or what they take.
Kuala Lumpur → Jeddah → Makkah → home
- Departure · check-in
At the airline counter in Kuala Lumpur, Aminah, 68, receives an airline-logo wrist band along with her whole group. The Desktop Writer has written it in one pass from the list the operator sent, with the details Aminah chose to include: blood type, penicillin allergy, her blood-pressure medication, the group leader's number and the hotel in Makkah.
- Before take-off
As Aminah boards, a crew member holds a phone with 𝒱WaveMed to her band for one second. With no internet, her blood-pressure medication and penicillin allergy are noted before take-off.
- Arafat · 14:10
In her group's tent at Arafat, Aminah suddenly turns faint and collapses among the women of her group. They speak Malay like her, but none of them knows what she takes, and the group leader is at the far end of the camp. Her phone is in her bag at the hotel.
- 14:14
A Saudi paramedic arrives. Aminah cannot answer him and her companions have no Arabic, but the band can: one second with 𝒱WaveMed shows, in Arabic, her blood type, penicillin allergy, the blood-pressure medication she takes and the group leader's number. The paramedic calls the group leader, who contacts the airline's local office.
- Return flight
Before flying home, Aminah adds the new medicine she was given in Makkah to the WaveMed app and, with the group leader's help, updates her band with her four-digit PIN. At boarding the crew read the same band again, and the new medicine is already there. At the airport her son is waiting. On no leg of the journey was she a nameless patient.
The same band on every leg, in the language of whoever reads it
- Issued in one pass at check-in: the operator sends the list (CSV) and WaveMed Desktop with a reader, the Desktop Writer at the counter, writes the patches in list order. The group leader's number and accommodation go on every patch, and the airline logo stays on the wrist throughout the pilgrimage.
- The crew's phone is the reader: 𝒱WaveMed, the free app for paramedics, emergency responders and fire crews, goes on the phones of crew and group leaders. In the cabin, the crew are the first responders. Holding the phone to the band for one second is all it takes, so no internet is needed, even in the air.
- At the holy sites, in Arabic: RadPatch, the personal emergency information patch, needs no battery, no internet and no login, and a paramedic reads it in one second. Blood type, allergies, medication, diabetes emergency information and emergency contacts appear automatically in the reader's own language, from 27 languages, and can be read but never changed. Double waterproofing, a silicone body and a sealed chip, stands up to the water of ablution and the midday sweat.
- Nobody holds the information: it is encrypted only on the pilgrim's own patch and changed only with their four-digit PIN. The airline and the operator only help with issue and contact registration.
- The rest lives on the pilgrim's phone: in the free WaveMed app, vaccination records with lot number and certificate, an insurance certificate ready to open and show on the spot, and a medication schedule with Completed marks. At the holy sites, Medicine Finder checks a medicine by its English INN, the map shows the nearest hospitals and pharmacies, and the emergency report switches to any of 27 languages.
On the wrist in ihram, and on the bag always carried
From pre-departure papers to the holy sites and the flight home: the free WaveMed app
Real WaveMed app screens (demo data).
Where it is read
How to roll it out
- Start with one season and one charter flight; we provide the bands and the counter Desktop Writer.
- Path B: the operator sends the group list (CSV) to the airline, and at check-in WaveMed Desktop and a reader write the bands in list order, with the group leader's number and accommodation on every one.
- Twenty minutes of training on the 𝒱WaveMed reader app for crew and group leaders, and connection to local partner hospitals.
- Path A: pilgrims and their families use the free WaveMed app for vaccinations, insurance papers and medication, and update their own patch with the PIN when medication changes. After the season, response cases are compiled and the programme extends to scheduled routes.
Frequently asked questions
Who holds the information, the airline or the operator?
Neither. Only what the pilgrim chose goes in, encrypted only on the pilgrim's patch, and changing it needs their own four-digit PIN. The airline and operator only help with issue and contact registration.
Can it be read in flight?
Yes. With the free 𝒱WaveMed app on a crew phone, the band is read by holding the phone to it for one second. No internet is needed, so it reads the same in the cabin as in the crowds at the holy sites.
What if the pilgrim cannot use a smartphone?
That is fine. The band is written at check-in with the Desktop Writer, and it is read by the phones of crew, group leaders and paramedics (most Android phones on 8.0 or newer, and recent iPhones). If the pilgrim does have a phone, the free WaveMed app also keeps their vaccination records and insurance papers.
Get the apps
Start with one season and one charter flight: we supply the bands and the counter Desktop Writer, and training for crew and group leaders takes twenty minutes.