Du, NMC Healthcare partner to digitise health records

Du has partnered with NMC Healthcare in the UAE to implement electronic health records with the use of blockchain technology.

Du is a member of the Global Blockchain Council (GBC), which was established earlier in the year to test and accelerate blockchain technology in the country.

Electronic health records (EHR) with blockchain technology will provide a number of benefits. Blockchain will bring data integrity, security and trust to the flow of patient's information between health providers and the patient. It will enable NMC to be 100 per cent certain of the accuracy of all the retrieved records. Patients consulting any doctor in NMC will find their interaction seamless. The digitisation of medical records will also assist in management of crisis, disease and outbreaks through Big Data analytical tools.

The initiative will help NMC increase efficiencies by securely recording, storing and retrieving medical health records. This cost-effective workflow will also allow the hospital to improve patient charting and scheduling.

Carlos Domingo, chief new business and innovation officer at du, said: "Today, the majority of health records are on paper such as blood test reports, x-rays, etc. Most hospitals don't have shared access of patients' records. By digitising all health records and putting them in blockchain technology, data can be shared and distributed across all hospitals. We are looking at fully digitising the health system with blockchain technology to assure data integrity with zero error and guarantee end-to-end accountability of the patients' records," he said.

Dr B.R. Shetty, founder and CEO of NMC Healthcare, said: "NMC Healthcare has been the pioneer in providing latest break-through technology in the health industry and we are keen on digitising the patients' medical records in the most secure and reliable manner. We believe the results of this initiative shall improve our patients' data management processes."

- business@khaleejtimes.com