NITI Aayog is planning to use the blockchain technology in order to keep track of the medicines which are being sold in India. This will ensure that the fake drugs are not a problem as well.
The Indian government has already hired Oracle in order to create a pilot project involving the blockchain technology. The project will go on stream in November. The problem of fake drugs is actually pretty large. Approximately 0.7 million people die all over the world every year due to the fake drugs. That is why the problem is pretty large as well.
Overall, 20% of the fake drugs are sold in India. This percentage is pretty high. As a result, the amount of people dying in India is also on the higher side.
The third largest former market in the world:
When you take into account, the Indian market is the third-largest form a market in the world. Approximately, the value of counterfeit drugs sold in the Indian market is over $ 5 billion each and every year. This is a pretty significant amount. This is one of the main reasons why the Indian government is launching such a pilot project. If indeed, the pilot project is successful, the Indian government will launch it on a nationwide basis as well. This will ensure that the problem of counterfeit drugs will be completely eliminated.
Company tracking with the help of blockchain technology:
The blockchain technology will enable the former companies to completely track the sale of drugs as well. Right from manufacturing up to the retail counter, the drugs, as well as the medicines, can be easily tracked as well. The government is also looking at the RFID technology in order to track the drugs as well. However, with the help of blockchain technology, real-time tracking will be made possible as well. If indeed, real-time tracking is made possible, it will become significantly easier for the former companies to track all the drugs as well.
Moreover, the government will be able to avoid the counterfeit drugs from entering the supply chain as well. This will ensure that only the genuine drugs will be sold. When only the genuine drugs are being sold, it will become easier for the government to make sure that only genuine drugs are being sold as well. This will be a positive move for not just the Pharma industry but for the Indian citizens as well.
This also shows how blockchain has multiple applications. This is another application of blockchain which will surely be a unique example for the entire world as many other countries are grappling with the same problem.
