The importance of a stable healthcare industry was highlighted once again by the covid-19 pandemic. While medical studies and research have continued to evolve with technological advancements, the system still faces diverse challenges, especially in developing nations.
The healthcare sector is continuously pressured to innovate as it suffers tedious data sharing processes, fragmented data, physical paper trails, and insecurity problems. Blockchain technology is a secure and decentralized database with capable features to improve clinical practice and patients’ health. As the brainchild of technology, blockchain continues to revolutionize every sector in the world today.
Today, the Middle East region possesses about 1.5% of the worldwide healthcare IT market. Therefore, there are numerous opportunities to grow the market and invest in infrastructures and health tech.
This article will show you how blockchain can influence the healthcare industry in the Middle East through its impacts.
4 Ways Bockchain In Healthcare Can Transform The Health Industry
Data Protection for Patients
A critical issue in healthcare is the security of patients’ medical data. In December 2021, the Ministry of Health in Indonesia suffered an enormous patient data breach, with about 720GB of medical information and six million data samples allegedly leaked from their server. Imagine what could happen with the data landing in the wrong hands?
A clear way to prevent a future recurrence of this insecurity is blockchain. With blockchain, we can enable a private, decentralized, and transparent database of patients through practical technology implemented in multiple security applications.
Drug Supply Chain Security
According to the UN Office on Drugs and Crime, counterfeit drugs from India, China, and Pakistan were trafficked into the Philippines, making it the highest deposit of fake medicine. The impact of this is significant and drastic for the healthcare industry.
Thanks to blockchain innovations, drug transaction information can be time stamped. Thus, we can record, secure, and trace authentic drugs since only authorized personnel with clear access can edit the ledger record.
Interconnected medical research
An uneditable blockchain record can finally solve result alterations, manual errors, and fraud during clinical trials. Over 50% of clinical trials are presently unreported. Researchers and doctors can innovate and swiftly observe errors by storing research information in secure ledgers and broad sharing of results.
Aiding medical emergencies through decentralized data sharing
Today, patients’ medical data is shared across different hospitals and health systems. As a result, it may not be easy to access their records for immediate help in the case of an emergency.
Blockchain can ensure transfer of records across different countries and health systems is made easier, cheaper, and less risky. We can finally boast of a globally coordinated health management system if we welcome blockchain into the health sector.
Conclusion
We can achieve an accessible, effective, and efficient health sector in the Middle East through blockchain technology. As a result, fewer human errors will occur, and countries can address challenges related to data security and sharing effectively.
Of course, blockchain is not a messiah and cannot solve all our problems. Nonetheless, its potential advantages can reduce costs, save lives, and improve healthcare quality.
