During the development of Medi-Connect, our team, BITWISE, encountered various challenges that pushed us to think creatively and find innovative solutions. Here are some of the challenges we faced:

1. Complexity of Healthcare Ecosystem: Building a platform that connects patients, healthcare providers, and stakeholders comes with the inherent complexity of integrating multiple systems and ensuring seamless data flow. We had to carefully design the architecture and develop robust APIs to handle diverse healthcare data and ensure secure and efficient communication.

2. Data Privacy and Security: Healthcare data is highly sensitive, and ensuring its privacy and security was a top priority. We implemented stringent security measures, including encryption, user authentication, and role-based access control, to safeguard patient information and comply with data protection regulations.

3. Integration with External Services: Integrating external services, such as Firebase Storage for file and image uploading and Socket.IO for real-time chatting, presented technical challenges. We had to thoroughly understand the documentation and APIs of these services and implement them effectively within our platform.

4. User Experience and Interface Design: Creating a user-friendly interface that caters to both patients and healthcare providers was a significant challenge. We conducted extensive user research and iterated on the design to ensure an intuitive and seamless user experience, considering factors like accessibility, responsiveness, and ease of use.

5. Time Constraints: Hackathons are known for their tight timelines, and this project was no exception. We had to efficiently manage our time and prioritize tasks to ensure we delivered a functional and polished product within the given timeframe. Effective project management and teamwork were crucial to meeting deadlines.