The Chinese University of Hong Kong and ConsenSys Announce the Medoxie COVID-19 Digital Health Passport

The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) along with ConsenSys, the leading Ethereum software company, has announced the launch of the Medoxie COVID-19 Digital Health Passport. 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 healthcare providers to undergo frequent COVID-19 testing, have regular temperature checks, and keep a documented history of their vaccinations. This data is vital to giving the population safe access to hospitals, shops, workplaces, and government buildings, as well as reopening international borders. However, it is essential that a patient’s private data remains confidential and the users have full control of which parties can have access to their data, 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 will be used by multiple stakeholders including Hong Kong healthcare professionals and academics during the launch and later on the app can be extended its usage to patients. The COVID-19 Data Passport platform has been built using ConsenSys Quorum and Codefi Orchestrate. 

Benefits for Patients, Health Care Providers, and Labs 

Users 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 privacy 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 user’s identity, record covid test results, and log vaccinations. Users 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. 

In addition, the COVID-19 Digital Health Passport will enable academics at CUHK to perform large-scale data analysis to better understand the impact and longevity of immunity following vaccinations. Blockchain technology allows for big data aggregation, analytics and modeling, 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. Marten Erik Brelen, Associate Professor, Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, and principal investigator of the project. 

“This COVID-19 blockchain passport uses trusted blockchain technology to protect user data, making it verifiable and secure. We are proud to support The Chinese University of Hong Kong with its efforts to apply innovative technologies to help health sectors and communities proactively respond to COVID-19, and transition back to life as normal” says Dr. Arafet Ben Makhlouf, Senior Technical Architect at ConsenSys.

Charles d’Haussy, Director, APAC at ConsenSys added. “ConsenSys is excited to partner and innovate with public and private entities committed to positively transforming healthcare and life sciences.” 

Further details on the Medoxie Digital Health Passport can be found at www.medoxie.com