NikshayChain: A Blockchain-Based Proposal for Tuberculosis Data Management in India

Abstract

A recent development in the Internet of Things (IoT) has accelerated the application of IoT-based solutions in healthcare. Next-Gen networks and IoT, supported by the development of technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI) and blockchain, have propelled the growth of e-health applications. However, there are some unique challenges in the widespread acceptance of IoT in healthcare. Safe storage, transfer, authorized access control, and the privacy and security aspects of patient data management are crucial barriers to the widespread adoption of IoT in healthcare. This makes it necessary to identify current issues in the various health data management systems to develop novel healthcare solutions. As a case study, this work considers a scheme launched by the Government of India for tuberculosis care called Nikshay Poshan Yojana (NPY). It is a web-based Direct Benefit Transfer scheme to provide a nutritional incentive of INR 500/- per month to all tuberculosis patients. The main objective of this work is to identify the current implementation challenges of the NPY scheme from patient and healthcare stakeholder perspectives and proposes a blockchain-based architecture called NikshayChain for sharing patient medical reports and bank details among several healthcare stakeholders within or across Indian cities. The proposed architecture accelerates healthcare stakeholder productivity by reducing workload and overall costs while ensuring effective data management. This architecture can significantly improve medical care, incentive transfer, and data verification, propelling the use of e-health applications.