Blockchain: Opportunities in the healthcare sector and its uses in COVID-19

As the world grapples with the COVID-19 pandemic and major populations are getting vaccinated, increasing realization processes healthcare industry needs to be augmented. It includes managing supply chains, healthcare records, and patient care. With a scarcity of time and resources, adaptation of blockchain technology will help mitigate the pressures on existing infrastructure. A blockchain distributed ledger helps to exchange health information securely without complex intermediation of trust with secure access. The organizations and persons in the blockchain network can verify and authorize the data, thus protecting patient identity, privacy, medical information system, and reducing transaction costs. The chapter examines managing and protecting electronic medical records and personal health records data using blockchain. It also analyses issues in healthcare, blockchain implementation, and its uses in the COVID-19 pandemic. The authors put forward the idea that even after the world is free of the Coronavirus, there will be pressures on the healthcare industry and Blockchain technology is the way to alleviate this pressure.