JOHN GALLAGHER

37 SECONDS AGO

Doctors Without Borders is now using blockchain tech for medical record storage

Blockchain documentation service Transcrypts announced a partnership with the humanitarian organization on Thursday.

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At a November 11 press conference, blockchain- based document security company Transcrypts announced a partnership with Doctors Without Borders, or DWB, that began on October 14th. Working together, they have already uploaded 6500 immunization records to the blockchain, with a goal of 76000 by 2022.

Most of the recorded immunizations are COVID 19 vaccines, but the company stated that the eventually the goal is to store all patient medical records on the blockchain, where they will be accessible from a patient's phone. The nascent California based startup was founded last year by Zain Zaidi — then still an electrical engineering student at San Jose State University. The company now counts Paychex, ADP, Zoom, Spirit Airlines and Oracle as its clients.

Transcrypts began as a tool to combat resume fraud marketed to human resources professionals, before expanding into income verification for landlords. Now, the firm said that it views itself as a full service documentation service. The DWB partnership is its first foray into medical records. Previously Transcrypt had found that HIPAA and other compliance laws essentially barred blockchain as an acceptable method of storage for medical records within the United States.

Speaking on the accessibility of patient medical records in developing nations, Zaidi said that blockchain could provide significant help in preventing many unnecessary deaths:

“In India over 700,000 people die every year from the lack of access to a patient’s medical records. A majority of these deaths could have been prevented if physicians had access to a patient’s comprehensive health care records. With this partnership, Doctors Without Borders and TransCrypts hopes to build a future where this loss of life can be mitigated.”

This is not the first time COVID vaccination records have been stored on the blockchain. Cointelegraph reported in January about veChain’s launch of a program to do so at a large hospital in Cyprus.