Digital Health Passport joins the fight against COVID19

As you might imagine, during the COVID-19 pandemic, efficiency was key – particularly when it involved healthcare records.

The last thing you’d want to do while battling a deadly virus is to fumble through paper records that are easily misplaced, replicated or replaced.

Read on to find out how the Digital Health Passport is helping our medical care heroes in the fight against COVID-19 PHOTO: UNSPLASH

That’s why in May, while the frontline medical staff was busy containing the pandemic, teams from SGInnovate and Accredify were busy developing a product called Digital Health Passport behind the scenes.

By storing data on the blockchain, Accredify built upon GovTech’s OpenAttestation framework for HealthCert, a verifiable travel credential standard created by GovTech, to enhance the safety and efficiency of travel for all outbound travellers and immigration authorities.

Digital Health Passport allows for medical documents – yes, including COVID-19 discharge memos and swab results – to be issued and stored in a secure digital wallet. The mobile app was created to resolve the issue of lost or damaged physical medical records by providing an easily accessible, portable repository of medical documents for citizens.

Verification is fast and easy, users can automatically access their digital records via SingPass and present it to officials via QR code when required.

Because of the open nature of blockchain, health records are also tamperproof.

Put into action in 2 Months

Time is of the essence during a pandemic, and the development of the Digital Health Passport definitely reflects the urgency required. The project started in May, but by July, an early beta version was already implemented in a pilot with both the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Manpower.

Put into action in MOM’s FWMOMCARE app, the Digital Health Passport was deployed to enable the issuance of verifiable discharge memos that expedited the re-entry of foreign workers into their dormitory and workplace.

Future Plans are Brewing

Digital Health Passport might now be used mostly for discharge memos, but plans are already in motion to extend the usage to other healthcare records such as COVID-19 Swab results, proof-of-immunity and even vaccination records.

In a time where the world is still grappling with COVID-19, the app has the potential to become an essential tool for both the healthcare sector and travel industry.

Finding the Silver Lining

Well, if there’s one thing we learnt during COVID-19, is that there are opportunities in even the darkest of crises.

It’s quite possible in the near future that it’ll be used to facilitate checks on travellers, or help other organisations manage their employee health and travel records better – in both Singapore and beyond!

If that happens, our tiny island nation can affirm its status as a Digital Hub in a post-COVID world – and a leader in utilising blockchain technology.

Of course, when that happens, you’ll be sure to hear it from us!