The Director General of National Information Development Agency, Mallam Kachifu Inuwa- Abdullahi says, Nigeria’s perception of Blockchain Technology lies in its potential as foundational technology that will entrench trust and confidence in critical sectors of the economy such as health, education, public administration, among others.
Speaking at a forum tagged ”Blockchain and the Future of Healthcare” At the on going GITEX 2020 in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Mallam Abdullahi said Blockchain Technology will help to increase the trust and efficiency in general health care services pointing out that individuals can access their health record/ data from any part of the world and do not necessarily need to write to the facility used earlier to transfer your record to another facility.
Blockchain is a shared, immutable ledger that facilitates the process of recording transactions and tracking assets in a business network. An asset can be tangible (a house, car, cash, land) or intangible (intellectual property, patents, copyrights, branding). Virtually anything of value can be tracked and traded on a blockchain network, reducing risk and cutting costs for all involved.
Mallam Abdullahi described Blockchain as a technology has the potential to transform the healthcare by placing the patient in the center of healthcare ecosystem pointing out that It will bring about increased security, privacy and interoperability of data in the sector.
According to him, Interoperability has been a challenge in the healthcare, because if a patient visit one healthcare facility and want his or her personal data transferred to another facility the person may need to repeat tests.
The NITDA Director General pointed out that blockchain technology would bring about the transparency needed and can reduce costs while eliminating the frictions caused by intermediaries by people having access to their data and secured.
Mallam Abdullahi said Nigeria as a country has launched applications in that regard, he said that the country is working assiduously to deploy Blockchain solutions being developed by startups to ensure the healthcare sector benefits from the technology.
Mallam Abdullahi added that Blockchain Technology is going to transform the healthcare sector by keeping the records secured; not just the patient’s record but transverses the areas of medical records.
In a presentation, the Managing Partner, Health Group & Chief Health Privacy Security Officer at BTBlock, Dr. Alice Loveys said blockchain presents numerous opportunities but with several challenges on trustworthiness, transparency and accessibility that must be addressed before it is fully adopted by the healthcare system.
Also speaking on the technology, a Professor in Blockchain, Olinga Taeed, described blockchain technology as a distributed system for recording and storing transaction, is faster, cheaper, secured and trusted for speculative transactions as the future of the fourth industrial revolution.