Block Track, IIT-M's blockchain-based healthcare information system for mobile phones, set for launch

Block Track, a blockchain based healthcare information system has been developed by researchers at Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IIT-M) to securely digitalise healthcare information systems while ensuring protection of sensitive personal information.

Block Track is a system that encrypts personal healthcare information of an individual digitally, by decentralising the control and ownership of a patient’s data through a blockchain-based innovation. The project was initiated in 2019 by IIT Madras and is headed by Professor Prabhu Rajagopal, lead faculty for Remote Diagnostics, Center for Nondestructive Evaluation, Department of Mechanical Engineering.

“Currently Information Management Systems in the healthcare sector store data in centralised record stations. However Blocktrack is the first application which helps to store them in a decentralised format backed by Blockchain technology. It is the use of Blockchain that makes Blocktrack unique,” said professor Rajagopal.

The application will be used to maintain patient healthcare records across multiple hospitals once field testing is successful. Currently the system is being field tested in the IIT Madras Institute Hospital. The project is backed by Infosys as a part of the latter’s CSR efforts and more support was extended from IIT Madras Hospital for field trials helping with COVID-19.

Other team members involved in the application are Abishek Rana, team technical lead, Shashwat Pandey, project leader, Ramashankar, Rohit, Vivek and Selvaa are team members.