Leveraging Blockchains for Decentralized Health Care and Emergency Services Management
Andrea Calvagna, Selvakumar Thakshnamurthy, Emiliano Tramontana · 2024
A reliable communication system is one of the most crucial component in emergency response. Blockchain technology, known for its distributed and decentralized management, has been extensively used in various contexts, with interest also growing for its applications in the health-care sector. In this paper we propose and evaluate a system incorporating blockchain technology for initial emergency care interventions, i.e. ambulance dispatching. The approach allows a distributed management and coordination of emergency interventions, using smart contracts in place of a central authorithy. The major benefit is the increased ability to trace, and afterward give evidence of, the events occurring when handling emergency calls, without having to rely on a central authority. Moreover, the proposed system combines medical data records storing in the blockchain with additional cryptography to preserve the privacy of healthcare data, while ensuring availability, integrity and persistence.