India is exploring the use-cases of blockchain technology to harness its potential to maximum. The government of Maharashtra has teamed-up with the Algorand blockchain and MAPay, which is a healthcare technology firm, to store health data as NFTs. The Ministry of Public Health and Family Welfare under the Government of Maharashtra will be releasing 100 million NFTs in the first phase of this initiative. The development comes after Algorand claimed to have seen tonnes of blockchain supporters from India in its Decipher conference that was recently held in Dubai.
Released in 2019, Algorand is a green, proof-of-stake (PoS) blockchain. The developers of the blockchain claim to enable the convergence between decentralised finance (DeFi) and traditional finance.
“NFTs will help eliminate intermediaries in the healthcare system that routinely cause bottlenecks, introduce risk, and drive-up costs for all parties including patients, health care providers, insurance companies, and banks,” an official statement about the initiative said.
The Algorand blockchain vouches to be carbon negative, without having witnessed any zero time since its launch.
The Algorand Foundation has appointed Anil Kakani as the country head to oversee all of its India operations.
Saving patient details on the blockchain would not only be unchangeable but will also bring more transparency to the overall system.
MAPay, meanwhile, is already working with healthcare providers in the US to move related data on the 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,” said Michael Dershem, the CEO of MAPay, commenting on the partnership.
Members of the United Nations have also applauded India’s step to open experiments in the blockchain technology.
“This technology is transformational. Its transference and acceptance globally once seemed unimaginable; but now it is within reach,” Sabine Kapasi, UN Health Policy and Governance Strategy lead has noted.
This is not the first time that the government of Maharashtra has dived deeper into testing the distributed leger technology.
In March this year, the Polygon blockchain was chosen by the Maharashtrian government to issue caste certificates in the Etapalli village and Gadchiroli district.
The move aimed at curbing the ‘menace of forgeries’ and ‘identify the right beneficiaries for delivery of government schemes’.
The technology is garnering the attention of other state authorities in India as well.
The Firozabad police, back in October, announced the launch of a new complaint forum, that is built on the Polygon blockchain. All details filed on the blockchain network cannot be altered or edited. This would ensure consistency in details around the cases that would come under investigation.
