Aretaeio Hospital, a Nicosia-based private medical facility, has adopted a blockchain-based laboratory testing service that permits total control of the medical data by the patient.
A collaboration between the VeChain blockchain eco-system, and the Limassol-based medical data management platform I-Dante, the healthcare record system E-HCert represents a new category of system that ensures interoperability, connecting doctors and patients and hospital administration in a secure system with immutable records – one that is also fully compliant with healthcare standards.
For Aretaeio Hospital, after the patient takes a lab test, results will be automatically uploaded to the E-HCert application and the VeChainThor public blockchain. The E-HCert wallet can be securely accessed using private credentials given to the patient after a registration process in the hospital.
Access to health data is much more rapid than it would be if delivered in the traditional way, waiting for the test laboratory to record its results and to put them into a form suitable for communication and then finally to send them.
Once complete, the data is readily accessible to its owner, available for use to prove his or her health status as required. The patient controls access to all data on the wallet, and can permit access as he/she wishes, on an individual basis – it is possible to share data with one doctor without allowing other doctors access to it.
The solution also provides a blockchain-based Web Portal that allows doctors to request the medical records of patients, and enabling far more rapid access to the data than would otherwise be the case.
The platform maintains GDPR compliance by ensuring personal data remains under full control of the owner, granting access to government authorities, employers or other parties at the sole discretion of the owner. Because the blockchain is distributed over a number of nodes, and only accepts new data that has been verified as authentic, health data on it is at low risk of being hacked.
The solution was implemented at the Mediterranean Hospital of Cyprus and between June to August, recorded the test results of more than8,000 people who subsequently used them as part of the flight arrival process at the International Airport of Larnaca.
From January 2021, The E-HCert App will be used by both the Mediterranean Hospital of Cyprus and Aretaeio Hospital for all laboratory tests, from COVID-19 to routine blood work. It will be expected to serve over 100,000 people a year.
Source: Cyprus Mail
