Healthifying NFTs

The world has moved past the Covid-19 pandemic as people start returning to the lives they had before the pandemic. Healthcare took a massive hit in an attempt to contain and cure the deadly virus. Technology played a huge role in determining and separating the infected ones from the non-infected. Tech has played a pivotal role in the success of healthcare facilities in recent years.

The impending onset of Web3 has brought about unique use cases in the healthcare sector. The transcendence of the decentralised web has opened a few avenues for the healthcare industry to benefit from. NFTs have been a buzzword in the Web3 spectrum for a long time. NFT stands for non-fungible tokens. An NFT is a digital asset representing real-world objects like art, music, etc. The healthcare NFTs would engulf objects like medical records, lab records, prescription information, etc.

“The importance of data in healthcare does not need a second mention. It would not be an exaggeration to say that a lot of significant health improvements including predictive deployment of healthcare personnel to areas that are likely to be affected by an epidemic, and formulation of drugs based on a variety of factors like genetics and allergens depend on healthcare data. However, patients, who are the true owners of health data are not recognized or remunerated for sharing such a sensitive and precious piece of information,” said Ramkumar Subramaniam, CEO and co-founder, GuardianLink.

The healthcare sector is notorious for using a patient’s confidential records. A visit to doctor’s chambers could result in a trail of data passing through multiple hands and also has a possibility of being passed from organization to organization. Health records on the blockchain make it safer due to the safety blockchain encapsulates.

Even though the data is shared with a clear conscience and has benevolent purposes, the patients are not aware of the sharing of the data. The systems that contain the data of patients are frequent victims of cybercrime such as hacking. The hackers find it easier to hack an over-strained cyber security team as well as a hack to get a large amount of medical data for medical fraud.

The NFTs built on blockchain technology would provide a lot of benefits among which the security of the data would be at the top. The health NFTs would also allow one to revoke access consent. The patient would have total control over the records and would be possibly rewarded or compensated in exchange for their data being used.

“Medical data poses two challenges, namely, that of containing intellectual property, and of royalties that need to be paid to access them. Blockchain is incorruptible, and NFTs function as unique pieces of information on blockchain that are embedded with smart contracts. Smart contracts can facilitate the payment of royalties, and also facilitate the easy transfer of large data online, making seamless sharing and use of medical data viable for monetisation. Further, NFTs can improve time management and prioritise efficiency,” Abhay Aggarwal, founder and CEO, Colexion.

Another benefit of health NFTs is that the tokenized decentralized data can be accessed by the patient anytime anywhere without making rounds of health facilities, which do not readily share detailed data. The patients have the freedom to change their doctors/healthcare facility without any hassles and consult a new one to access their medical records as easily in real-time. Health NFTs help tokenize an individual’s data, be it the fitness levels tracked on fitness apps or health records. The patients have complete control over their medical data, which was earlier ambiguously stored by wearable health device makers.

“While highs and lows are part of the journey, long-term success is determined by the validity and long-term scalability of the idea behind the product. In the case of NFTs, we are still at a nascent stage and their growth potential is unfathomable. NFTs hold a lot of possibilities, particularly for sectors like healthcare,” said Vikram R. Singh, founder and CEO, Antier.

Several blood donation organizations are leveraging the technology and urging people to donate blood using NFTs. Blood donors are given a unique token that can be tracked throughout the system. The donation can then be tracked from the time it is delivered to the hospital, via the blood bank, and to its intended recipient. The blood is then recorded in a digital “blood bank” by its NFT, where the demand for certain blood types can be monitored via a blockchain system and distributed to where it is required most.

“By expediting the verification process, NFTs and blockchain can help in the battle against counterfeit medications. NFTs leave digital footprints or a “token ID” that stays with an object for the duration of its existence. The information held inside each NFT’s metadata – referring to valuable digital resources that are updated in real-time on the blockchain – defines the uniqueness of each NFT. NFTs create an immutable ledger record, minimizing or even eliminating inconsistencies and blatant fraud. In the case of medicines, NFTs may safeguard and speed the tracking process, allowing errors to be detected quickly. This implies that the potential problems can be remedied much more quickly, such as identifying and deleting black-market prescriptions from the system,” said Amajot Malhotra, country head- India, Bitay.

Despite the dire condition of India’s healthcare sector, India is making huge strides in innovating the future of health in the nation. Infusion of technology is being actively pursued to make the healthcare sector more solid in terms of easing the burden on doctors as well as handing the reins of the records to the patients. Decentralising the paperwork seems to be the solution for the healthcare sector to fight the vices that remain persistent. NFTs have multiple use cases. However, the biggest use case for NFT might turn out to be the healthcare sector.