Potential Adoption of Blockchain Technology to Enhance Transparency and Accountability in the Public Healthcare System in South Africa

Abstract

The South African healthcare system is hampered by many challenges. Most of the challenges are systematic in nature and hence require strengthening processes and information flow throughout the entire healthcare. This entails putting in place mechanisms that simplify the workflow but also enhance transparency and accountability. Blockchain has been hailed for allowing a transparent and decentralised workflow. Immutability, traceability and decentralised ledger are some of the features that make blockchain appealing to many organisations. This paper presents a case for the use of blockchain within the public healthcare in South Africa. It further portrays how blockchain could be used to foster transparency and accountability in patient-centered care in South African public healthcare institutions.