The United Arab Emirates’ Ministry of Health and Prevention declared the launch of a new blockchain-based platform for healthcare data that associates with Dubai Healthcare City, Ministry of Presidential Affairs, and other health authorities in the area.

MoHAP‘s platform is created for secure storage of data for health, health practitioners, pharmaceutical government and private facilities, and drug information.

The objective is to utilize blockchain distributed ledger technology, which holds the popular digital currency bitcoin and systems like to raise the efficacy of MoHAP’s and other organization’s smart health services, the food safety tracking platform IBM Food Trust, which make extensive use of digital technologies to link health providers.

“This blockchain-based platform would help secure an unchangeable, decentralized and encrypted database with high-security protection to verify data validity and reliability,” stated Lubna Al Shaali, director of the Public Health Policy Department.

The new platform will become part of MoHAP’s programs to include artificial intelligence in health services. This follows a vision laid out by the UAE government with the AE Artificial Intelligence Strategy project.

“The transition to the AI technologies is in line with the directives of the wise leadership to make the UAE a leading global model in the proactive confrontation of future challenges and focus on smart health care,” said Amin Hussein Al Amiri, assistant undersecretary of the Ministry of Health and Prevention’s Public Health Policy and Licenses.

“The AI-based projects will play a key role in enhancing the capabilities of health care services and providing smart medical solutions, by the UAE Centennial 2071, and its artificial intelligence strategy.”

With the combination of blockchain and artificial intelligence alongside bringing high-end equipment, MoHAP thinks that it will form a vital shift in the public and private health industries of UAE. It will also be used to regulate the healthcare industry, track outcomes better, and grant life-saving data throughout the region.

Lubna stated that the utilization of blockchain technology would enhance data and data verification linked to healthcare.

The technology is endeavored after because it ensures transactions utilizing massive distribution and cryptography, suggesting that once a transaction is recorded to the blockchain, it becomes near-impossible to change, making prior data challenging to forge.

For instance, pharmaceutical data reported from drug use by public and private hospitals and health providers could be recorded to the MoHAP blockchain as it is used in the population. Healthcare researchers could then apply that data as a tool to better comprehend the use of individual drugs and the outcomes of its use in the population.

In turn, regulatory and health administration agencies could more easily analyze how much drug is being utilized in the population and its impact on patients, and better analyze how the regional health industry is employing its tools to approach health issues.