Government of Maharashtra uses NFT Tech to store health data, in partnership with blockchain Algorand
India is exploring the use cases of blockchain technology to exploit its full potential. The government of Maharashtra has partnered with the Algorand blockchain and MAPay, a healthcare technology company, to store health data in the form of NFTs. The Ministry of Public Health and Family Welfare under the Government of Maharashtra will issue 100 million NFTs in the first phase of this initiative. The development comes after Algorand claimed to have seen a lot of blockchain advocates from India during the Decrypt conference held recently in Dubai.
Released in 2019, Algorand is a green, proof-of-stake (PoS) blockchain. The developers of the blockchain claim to enable convergence between Decentralized Finance (DeFi) and traditional finance.
“NFT will help eliminate intermediaries in the healthcare system that frequently cause bottlenecks, risk and increase costs for all parties including patients, healthcare providers, insurance companies and banks”. official statement about the initiative said.
The Algorand blockchain proves to be carbon negative, without witnessing any time since its launch.
The Algorand Foundation has appointed Anil Kakani as country head to oversee all operations in India.
Saving patient details on the blockchain is not only immutable, but it also brings more transparency to the entire system.
MAPay, meanwhile, has been working with healthcare providers in the US to migrate related data across blockchain.
“This use case is a perfect real-world application of blockchain technology. The impact on individuals and society as a whole is what we wake up to accomplish every day,” Michael Dershem, MAPay CEO, commented on the partnership.
Members of the United Nations have also welcomed India’s move to open trials on blockchain technology.
“This technology is transformative. Its global transfer and acceptance seems unthinkable; but now it is within reach,” noted Sabine Kapasi, United Nations Health Policy and Governance Strategy Team Leader.
This is not the first time the Maharashtra government has gone deeper into testing distributed leger technology.
In March of this year, polygon block chain has been selected for release by the Maharashtrian government class certificate in Etapalli village and Gadchiroli district.
The move is aimed at curbing the ‘threat of counterfeits’ and ‘identifying suitable beneficiaries to deliver on government plans’.
The technology is also attracting the attention of other government agencies in India.
The Firozabad police, in October, announced the launch of a new complaints forum, built on the Polygon blockchain. All details filed on the blockchain network cannot be changed or edited. This will ensure consistency of detail around the cases to be investigated.
