The Afghanistan government will begin applying blockchain technology to solve issues in its healthcare industry, according to a blog post published on July 6. The Afghanistan’s Ministry of Health will trial a blockchain-based smart medicine program based on the Fantom (FTM) blockchain, which was first announced in November 2019.
The program has experienced delays in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The goal of the pilot is to reduce black market activity, counterfeit medication, and digitizing administrative procedures. Seeking to move away from obsolete tools and processes, the country's health officials are keen on introducing a seamless method for patient registry and treatment, which is expected to boost the quality of healthcare in the nation.
Officials in the country have described counterfeit medication as being a particular pain point for the nation, as mass produced fake medication has proven to be a multi-million dollar problem. But with blockchain technology, officials plan to implement RFID/QR code-based supply chain tracking solutions that will verify the authenticity of pharmaceuticals.
In collaboration with Royal Star Pharma, Nabros Pharma and Bliss GVS, Fantom will run the trial for 2-3 months. Each party will have their own responsibilities. Royal Start Pharma will scan the pharmaceuticals provided by Nabros Pharma and Bliss GVS, with the data recorded on the Fantom blockchain. Products that will be tracked include hand sanitizers, topical ointments and tablets.
CIO of Fantom Michael Kong highlighted how traceability solutions could prevent immoral activity within the healthcare industry,
With the outbreak of COVID-19 we have seen a sudden and dramatic demand for medical products, this, unfortunately, leads to opportunistic criminals looking to profit off the disaster, since 2018, we have seen an 18% increase in seizures of antivirals and a 100% in seizures of chloroquine. These issues can be dramatically reduced via the introduction of transparent supply-chains and distributed LEDGER technology.
The pilot marks Afghanistan’s first foray into blockchain technology. The healthcare industry in general is seen as a potent use case for blockchain technology, which can speed up obsolete processes and safely record patient data.
