ABSTRACT
Blockchain technology, per se, has already shown its prowess with the incredible ability to facilitate inter alia personalised healthcare in developed jurisdictions. The significant challenges of retaining and accessing authenticated healthcare records for an extended period of time and making them communication ready on-demand is a cakewalk for this technology. Strangely, the technology, irrespective of its viability and reliability, has not lived up to its potential when it comes to its acceptability in various developing jurisdictions, including that of India. This scenario changed, for good, with the intervention of the apex court where it decided to go against the Executive’s earls while the decision of refraining the use of blockchain technology in the economic portfolio of the country. This critical position must give way to a sustainable and uniform legal environment for the technology to facilitate and thrive to its potential. This research paper proposes to unravel the legal position of healthcare data management and the use of technology in India to estimate the viability of blockchain technology in healthcare in the coming years. The study would also explore significant challenges that technology can and may potentially bring in the healthcare sector in India, which may, consequentially, invoke certain restrictions through regulations. This would be aided by a comparative legal analysis, in the domain of international law, with regard to healthcare data and application of blockchain technology. This paper ultimately aims in proposing a policy that may act as a guideline for the use of technology in the healthcare sector in India and also in the Global South.
