Blockchain Adoption in South Korea’s Health Sector on the Rise Amid COVID-19

South Korea’s healthcare sector is seeing an increase in blockchain adoption as practitioners pivot towards virtual contact with patients amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. From the handling of clinical research data to patient information, the novel tech is experiencing utilization in South Korea as stakeholders prioritize privacy and efficiency within the industry.

2020 NIPA Blockchain Conference Shows Growing DLT Adoption

The 2020 Blockchain NIPA conference in South Korea set the stage to showcase the increasing deployment of decentralized ledger technology (DLT) in the country’s healthcare arena. According to a Dec. 15 report by The Capital, several panels at the event offered evidence of significant blockchain penetration in South Korea’s health sector amid the scourge of COVID-19.

Appearing during the conference organized by the National Agency for the Promotion of the IT Industry (NIPA), Paul Park, CEO of South Korean blockchain outfit FLETA presented a real-world data (RWD) clinical research data logging project developed using blockchain technology. Back in June 2019, FLETA secured a $3 million grant to develop a proof of concept (PoC) for the platform.

According to Park, FLETA developed the blockchain-based clinical data handling project to offer a more efficient administration of information gleaned from medical studies in the country. FLETA reportedly utilized a dual chain approach comprising of a public network and a private permissioned network.

Park also revealed that FLETA also utilized Chainlink as well as partnerships with medical centers in the country to catalog and analyze nine years of clinical data of patients with diabetes. South Korea reportedly has over 3.6 million people suffering from diabetes, a major COVID-19 mortality risk factor. FLETA’s blockchain RWD will run in concert with the company’s other clinal DLT-based project eCFR.

As previously reported by BTCManager, healthcare is a major adoption area for blockchain in South Korea with academics using IOTA for provenance to improve the healthcare supply chain. Indeed,  data management is perhaps the most prominent area of DLT utilization in South Korea’s healthcare dating back to even 2018 with HEX Innovation using the novel tech to tackle issues around information systems in the industry.

Outside South Korea, COVID-19 has also shaped the utilization of blockchain technology in the health sector. In October, IBM announced plans to tackle the pandemic using protocols based on the novel tech.