A Blockchain-Based Approach for Drug Traceability in Healthcare Supply Chain

Musamih, Ahmad and Salah, Khaled and Jayaraman, Raja and Arshad, Junaid and Debe, Mazin and Al-Hammadi, Yousaf and Ellahham, Samer (2021) A Blockchain-Based Approach for Drug Traceability in Healthcare Supply Chain. IEEE ACCESS, 9. pp. 9728-9743. ISSN 2169-3536

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Abstract

Healthcare supply chains are complex structures spanning across multiple organizational and geographical boundaries, providing critical backbone to services vital for everyday life. The inherent complexity of such systems can introduce impurities including inaccurate information, lack of transparency and limited data provenance. Counterfeit drugs is one consequence of such limitations within existing supply chains which not only has serious adverse impact on human health but also causes severe economic loss to the healthcare industry. Consequently, existing studies have emphasized the need for a robust, end-to-end track and trace system for pharmaceutical supply chains. Therein, an end-to-end product tracking system across the pharmaceutical supply chain is paramount to ensuring product safety and eliminating counterfeits. Most existing track and trace systems are centralized leading to data privacy, transparency and authenticity issues in healthcare supply chains. In this article, we present an Ethereum blockchain-based approach leveraging smart contracts and decentralized off-chain storage for efficient product traceability in the healthcare supply chain. The smart contract guarantees data provenance, eliminates the need for intermediaries and provides a secure, immutable history of transactions to all stakeholders. We present the system architecture and detailed algorithms that govern the working principles of our proposed solution. We perform testing and validation, and present cost and security analysis of the system to evaluate its effectiveness to enhance traceability within pharmaceutical supply chains.

Item Type: Article
Identification Number: https://doi.org/10.1109/ACCESS.2021.3049920
Dates:
DateEvent
4 January 2021Accepted
8 January 2021Published Online
Uncontrolled Keywords: Blockchain, drug counterfeiting, traceability, healthcare, supply chain, trust, security
Subjects: CAH11 - computing > CAH11-01 - computing > CAH11-01-01 - computer science
Divisions: Faculty of Computing, Engineering and the Built Environment > School of Computing and Digital Technology
Depositing User: Junaid Arshad
Date Deposited: 16 Feb 2021 11:57
Last Modified: 22 Mar 2023 12:00
URI: https://www.open-access.bcu.ac.uk/id/eprint/10984

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