Module not found: Error: Can't resolve 'zlib' or 'stream'

I am trying to build a website leveraging the Ionic 4 framework that will integrate uPort & Firebase.

During the compile, a dependancy from inside the uPort package tree (qr-image), throws the following errors:

ERROR in ./node_modules/qr-image/lib/qr.js
Module not found: Error: Cant resolve 'stream' in 'project/node_modules/qr-image/lib'
ERROR in ./node_modules/qr-image/lib/png.js
Module not found: Error: Cant resolve 'zlib' in 'project/node_modules/qr-image/lib'

I know these libraries are part of Node and should have been available to the project.

To verify this I created a new default Angular 7 project and added the same packages and there are no errors reported during compilation.

Is there some capability or package or rule checker that is perhaps absent from the specific Angular distro integrated into Ionic 4 that would cause this behaviour?

Any suggestions on how to overcome this limitation?

I also tried to directly run ng serve from inside the Ionic project and I did get this (along with the original error):
Your global Angular CLI version (7.3.0) is greater than your local version (7.2.4). The local Angular CLI version is used.

My Ionic Info:

   ionic (Ionic CLI)             : 4.10.1 (/Users/user/.nvm/versions/node/v10.15.0/lib/node_modules/ionic)
   Ionic Framework               : @ionic/angular 4.0.0
   @angular-devkit/build-angular : 0.12.4
   @angular-devkit/schematics    : 7.2.4
   @angular/cli                  : 7.2.4
   @ionic/angular-toolkit        : 1.3.0

System:

   NodeJS : v10.15.0 (/Users/user/.nvm/versions/node/v10.15.0/bin/node)
   npm    : 6.7.0
   OS     : macOS Mojave

My package.json dependancies:

    "dependencies": {
        "@angular/common": "^7.2.2",
        "@angular/core": "^7.2.2",
        "@angular/fire": "^5.1.1",
        "@angular/forms": "^7.2.2",
        "@angular/http": "^7.2.2",
        "@angular/platform-browser": "^7.2.2",
        "@angular/platform-browser-dynamic": "^7.2.2",
        "@angular/router": "^7.2.2",
        "@ionic-native/core": "^5.0.0",
        "@ionic-native/splash-screen": "^5.0.0",
        "@ionic-native/status-bar": "^5.0.0",
        "@ionic/angular": "^4.0.0",
        "core-js": "^2.5.4",
        "did-jwt": "^0.1.1",
        "firebase": "^5.8.2",
        "rxjs": "~6.3.3",
        "uport-connect": "^1.1.2",
        "zone.js": "~0.8.29"
    },

Thanks