• on 15/06/2021

Dr Brelén supports the fight against the pandemic by launching a new blockchain COVID-19 passport project

The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) along with ConsenSys, the leading Ethereum software company, announced the launch of the Medoxie COVID-19 Digital Health Passport for Hong Kong residents, which our Associate Professor, Dr Mårten Erik BRELÉN, is the principal investigator of the project. The platform uses blockchain technology to record all COVID-19 related events such as test results, temperature checks, vaccinations, and immunity in a decentralised, private and secure manner.

During the pandemic, there is an ongoing need for patients to undergo frequent COVID-19 testing, have regular temperature checks, and keep a documented history of their vaccinations. This data is vital to reopening international borders, as well as giving the population safe access to hospitals, shops, workplaces, and government buildings. However, it is essential that a patient′s private data remains confidential and can be shared only with the right parties, whilst also ensuring the data is validated and immutable. The Medoxie COVID-19 Digital Health Passport will solve these challenges using blockchain technology.

The digital COVID-19 Passport can be used by multiple stakeholders including patients, Hong Kong industries, healthcare professionals and academics. The COVID-19 Data Wallet platform has been built using ConsenSys Quorum and Codefi Orchestrate.


Benefits for Patients, Health Care Providers, and Labs

 

Hong Kong residents can register and create an account on the COVID-19 Digital Health Passport, which is available in dual languages (English or Chinese). Once their identity is validated, the account is created, and patients can grant permission to healthcare providers (e.g. doctors and nurses) to store test results on their mobile passport, choose who to share their records with, and receive notifications regarding updates to their records. The COVID-19 Digital Health Passport allows limited and consented access to a patient′s private health information (PHI) whilst safeguarding the self-sovereignty of personal data. The decentralised storage of PHI means that no-one, except the patient, has access to control their data.

Health care providers such as hospitals and clinics can use the COVID-19 Digital Health Passport to verify a patient′s identity, record covid test results, and log vaccinations. Patients can also store their daily temperature checks on the platform. This data is summarised in the passport and individuals can consent to share this data with third parties.

Following the same consent process as with health care providers, laboratories can use the COVID-19 Digital Health Passport to retrieve a patient′s test record and update their covid test and antibody test results. In addition, the COVID-19 Digital Health Passport will enable academics at CUHK to perform big data analytics to better understand the impact and longevity of immunity following vaccinations in the fight against COVID-19. Blockchain technology allows for big data analytics whilst preserving patients′ privacy by only collecting anonymised data.

″Our blockchain digital health passport has been developed to support the fight against the pandemic. We are excited to work with ConsenSys to develop this platform,″ says Dr Brelén.

″This covid-19 blockchain passport uses secure blockchain technologies to protect the data, making it verifiable and trusted. We are proud to support The Chinese University of Hong Kong with its efforts to apply innovative technologies to help residents and communities respond to COVID-19″ says Dr Arafet Ben Makhlouf, Senior Technical Architect of at ConsenSys.

Charles d′Haussy, Director, APAC at ConsenSys added. ″We are delighted to partner with the CUHK on this innovative project that will benefit the residents of Hong Kong. The COVID-19 Digital Health Passport utilises the benefits of blockchain technology to protect sensitive patient data, streamline processes, and improve efficiency, while simultaneously increasing trust and accountability in the fight against COVID-19.″

More on this project : 

Dr Mårten BRELÉN presented on Asia Healthcare Innovation Summit 

 

Media interviews : 

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