IIT-M researchers develop Android blockchain-based app for medical data and information exchange

The android-based application has been developed separately for patients and doctors

Researchers at the Indian Institute of Technology-Madras have developed the first-of-its-kind blockchain-based secure medical data and information exchange system for a mobile phone-based application.

The project, undertaken with CSR support from Infosys originating during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic last year, is currently being field-tested at IIT Madras Institute Hospital.

Known as BlockTrack, it aims to securely digitise healthcare information systems while ensuring the protection of sensitive personal information and medical records by decentralizing the control and ownership of patient data, through a blockchain-based innovation.

The BlockTrack innovation is now protected through a provisional IP filed with the Indian Patent Office. The Android version of the application has been developed separately for both patients as well as doctors. BlockTrack’s algorithm generates identification codes for users and ensures uniqueness across boundaries with very little chance for duplication.

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BlockTrack allows the interoperability of systems from multiple hospitals, institutes, and healthcare organizations. It integrates medical supply chain management and proactive tracking of the spread of contagious infections.

“BlockTrack is an exciting project that depicts engineering innovations that have disruptive potential to transform multiple domains. This is one of the first implementations of blockchain technology for securing Healthcare Data Management Systems and we see immense impact this approach can make in securely digitizing and maintaining unique patient records across the country and indeed across the world eventually,” Prof. Prabhu Rajagopal, Department of Mechanical Engineering, IIT-M, said,

Prof. K. Vijay Raghavan, Principal Scientific Adviser, Government of India, said the National Digital Health Mission launched by the Government of India last year had secure processing of individual data and easy accessibility of digitalized personal and medical records by individuals and health service providers as its two important objectives.

“Effective implementation of these objectives will require leveraging emerging technologies. BlockTrack is a step in the right direction and I congratulate the IIT Madras team for developing an innovative solution for a complex health information system. This will enhance and enable the efforts of health systems to efficiently track disease spread and maintain confidentiality while storing personal data in a network,” he said.