Afghanistan to Deploy Blockchain in Healthsector

The Afghan government is planning to incorporate blockchain technology in its health sector. In this regard, the Afghan Ministry of Public Health has inked a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with blockchain focused startup FantomOperations.

Using the blockchain technology, fake medicines would be identified, while digitzing patient related documents and establishing medical registries in hospitals.

Ferozuddin Feroz, Afghan Public Health Minister, explained the benefits of blockchain technology:

“The Ministry of Public Health is committed for the institutionalization of electronic government in the health sector and the blockchain technology would help the ministry bring transparency, acceleration and effectiveness in the related affairs.”

The volume of fake medicines sold in the country is a matter of concern to both the government and public. Therefore, many ordinary people have started using traditional medicine for health issues due to their check cost and easy availability, as per April report from the European Asylum Support Office.

The news release further points out the quantum of illegal medicines that arrive from other countries.

“The Medicine Importers Union stated that at least 40% of medicine and medical equipment enter the Afghan market illegally and many of the pharmaceutical products are low quality.”

Earlier this summer, the UN disclosed that it has started working on blockchain based system for renewable urban development in Afghanistan. The organization is building blockchain systems for land documents and services transparency as portion of the UN’s “City for All” endeavor.

The UN project expects Afghanistan’s population to become urbanized in the next 15 years. The three important objectives are strategic urban planning effective land management and enhanced municipal finance.

In April, Khalil Sediq, central bank of Afghanistan’s governor, stated that the institution was looking at the option of rolling out a sovereign crypto bond to amass $5.80 billion. In addition to Bitcoin (BTC), Sediq also specified about metal futures and highlighted that the country’s mineral deposits are appraised to be worth more than $3 trillion.