Nigeria’s healthcare sector is dealing with a number of issues, including growing healthcare expenditures, a growing need for individualized care, and ineffective data management and sharing systems. One cannot overemphasize the importance of medical records in providing high-quality treatment. This is due to the fact that the healthcare industry generates an increasing amount of data and information every day.
The rise is not unrelated to changes in the environment and the world’s population, which have led to an increase in patients and the emergence of new illnesses and symptoms. As a result, hospitals need to collect and handle massive amounts of data and information using highly secure medical record systems.
To provide high-quality healthcare, hospitals require secure medical records, which will enhance the health of the growing population.
Medical records are written reports of a patient’s examination, diagnosis, and course of treatment. They also contain information about the patient’s symptoms and medical history, the conclusions reached by the doctors, and the outcomes of any tests, surgeries, prescription drugs, and therapeutic interventions.
This suggests that hospitals may provide patients with high-quality healthcare services by using electronic medical records, which give them accurate, secure, and dependable information. As a result, hospitals must take the necessary precautions to protect the privacy and confidentiality of patient information contained in medical records due to its sensitivity. This calls for the implementation of modern technologies like blockchain.
According to Forbes Magazine, hospitals in the most developed nations across the globe—including those in North America, South America, Europe, Asia, and the United States, the United Kingdom, and China—as well as some developing nations with significant economic potential, like Malaysia, the Philippines, and Qatar, have implemented blockchain technology to manage their medical records in order to guarantee a more efficient, dependable, and secure healthcare system for favourable results.
Hospitals in African nations, however, have not focused much on using blockchain or other emerging technologies to manage medical records. The majority of current African approaches are paper-based, which presents difficulties for many hospitals in terms of missing files or records, inadequate information sharing amongst healthcare providers, insecure records, and inaccessibility of patient health information for medical professionals to use in making educated decisions about patient care.
Blockchain technology has the ability to completely change how medical records are kept, accessed, and managed—especially in places like Nigeria where it is frequently difficult to get access to safe and dependable healthcare information systems. Medical records can be rendered unchangeable through the use of blockchain, guaranteeing the confidentiality and integrity of patient information. Blockchain can enhance Nigerian medical records in the following ways:
Enhanced Security and Privacy: Data is stored across a network of computers rather than in a single area due to Blockchain’s decentralized structure. Because of this, it is very difficult for unauthorized people to access or alter the data without being discovered. On the blockchain, every transaction is connected to the one before it by encryption, forming a chain of blocks. This guarantees that any attempt to change a record would require modifying every block that came after it, which is practically impossible.
Increased Interoperability and Accessibility: Blockchain technology can make it easier for various healthcare organizations and providers to share patient details. All parties involved in a patient’s treatment have access to the most up-to-date and correct information by using a shared ledger. This lowers the possibility of mistakes and duplicate work in addition to improving patient care.
Reduced Costs: By eliminating the need for intermediaries and reducing the administrative overhead associated with managing paper records, blockchain can significantly reduce the costs associated with healthcare delivery. This includes the costs of data storage, data management, and the time and resources spent on verifying the authenticity of records.
Enhanced Patient Trust: Patients can have greater confidence in the security and privacy of their medical records when they know that the data is stored in a tamper-proof system. This can lead to increased trust in the healthcare system and improved patient outcomes.
Compliance with Data Protection Regulations: Blockchain can help healthcare providers comply with data protection regulations more effectively. By providing a transparent and immutable record of data access and modifications, blockchain can demonstrate compliance with regulations such as the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the Nigerian Data Protection Regulation (NDPR).
