The Ministry of Health and Prevention, MoHAP, has launched the region’s first national registry to store up data of healthcare professionals including doctors, pharmacists and technicians, based on Blockchain technology.

The platform, which was launched in cooperation with Microsoft, aims to facilitate the process of searching for licensed medical and technical personnel, in addition to efficiently exchanging information between healthcare regulators and providers.

The digital platform was revealed during the Arab Health 2020 held from 27 – 30, January at the Dubai World Trade Centre.

Qualitative addition

HE Awad Saghir Al Ketbi, Assistant Under-Secretary of the Support Services Sector, stressed that the launch of the platform is yet another qualitative addition to the ministry’s online services and is in line with its operational plans to make the most of latest digital technologies and smart applications to improve the quality and efficiency of healthcare services. The move will support the Emirates Blockchain Strategy 2021 aims to capitalise on the blockchain technology to transform 50 per cent of government transactions into the blockchain platform by 2021”.

“Through the unified national registry, we are planning to build a health database at the national level for licensed health workers in accordance with the highest international standards,” added Al Ketbi.

He affirmed that the Ministry follows strict measures and procedures to verify the academic qualifications of health workers, as part of its strategy to develop smart systems, provide the best smart online services, and implement the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority’s standards as well as the United Nations E-Government Development Index.

Non-changeable decentralized database

For her part, Mubaraka Ibrahim, Director of Health Information Systems at the Ministry, said: “The Blockchain technology delivers many advantages including that it is a non-changeable decentralized database after its creation, and enjoys high security protection, in addition to providing an encryption feature to verify the validity of transactions where it is not possible to delete modify or lose data”.

She further said that using Blockchain technology will improve data and information checks and consistency and provide a high level of transparency and trust in the healthcare services sector. Thanks to the unchangeable data, all health bodies can access reliable information, which would help take appropriate decisions, and automate overall workflow procedures electronically, improve customers and employees’ experience, and increase operational performance.

“The Ministry is looking forward to further improvements based on this technology which may be used to develop a blacklist of doctors who violated the profession standards, in addition to building a record of licensed medicines, and other features that contribute to the development of the digital healthcare system” Ibrahim added.