The Public Health Ministry of Afghanistan had recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with FantomOperation, a blockchain company in order to bring in blockchain technology to the country’s health sector.
According to a Nov.22 report by the Afghan Voice Agency (AVA), this initiative was taken in a bid to recognize fake medicines, digitize patients’ health records and establish medical registries in hospitals all over the country using the blockchain technology.
The country’s Minister of Public Health, Ferozuddin Feroz stated,
The Ministry of Public Health is committed to 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 idea of this initiative might have sprung from the growing concerns in the minds of the government and the general public on the increase of fake medicines being sold in the country.
According to a report from the European Asylum Support Office in April, the prevalence of these fake medicines has forced many citizens to resort to traditional medicines since they are both available and cheap.
The Medicine Importers Union reportedly stated that “at least 40% of medicine and medical equipment enter the Afghan market illegally and many of the pharmaceutical products are low quality.”
The United Nations had earlier disclosed that it is currently developing a blockchain system that will help to urbanize the country. The UN embarked on its “City for All” project to create blockchain systems for services transparency and land records.
This project has three major objectives which are strategic urban planning, enhanced municipal finance and effective land management. It also expects that in 15 years’ time, the Afghanistan population would become urbanized.
Meanwhile, Coinfomania report in a related development that adopting blockchain technology could save the food industry a whopping $31 billion by 2024.
