VeChain, a leading blockchain platform for supporting supply chains among other use cases, has announced that together with DNV, they are enabling Renji Hospital (in China) to launch the very first blockchain-enabled IVF Service App, called MyBaby.
As mentioned in an update from VeChain Foundation, dated June 2, 2021:
“In partnership with VeChain and DNV, Renji Hospital, a top-ranking hospital in China affiliated with the Shanghai Jiaotong University School of Medicine has announced the launch of smart medical care project — MyBaby, the world’s first blockchain-based In-Vitro fertilization (IVF) Service Application.”
The IVF process is quite an emotional and “physically stressful” journey for women and families across the globe, the announcement from VeChain noted while adding that actually going through the IVF process, beginning from the diagnosis of the inability to conceive children naturally, to the journey of educating yourself about the process and looking for a specialist, and then finally going through the IVF and dealing with its side effects is “a huge burden” to a couple.
The release from VeChain Foundation added:
“With MyBaby improving the IVF process from data management to providing families with the ability to clearly see the development of their baby, we believe that MyBaby can play a key role in easing anxiety, depression and stress associated with the IVF cycle, lifting the confidence and providing emotional support to tens of thousands and more women and families during this challenging stage in their life.”
Research and Markets has revealed that China’s IVF market is on track to surpass $2.8 billion by 2025. The introduction of MyBaby demonstrates that the Assisted Reproductive Service Center of Renji Hospital is dedicated to becoming the “most advanced” and “high-quality” IVF provider in Asia and “helping develop this growing industry in a safe and compliant manner,” the announcement noted.
At present, the centre treats around 400,000 outpatients every year and with this initial-step towards embracing blockchain or DLT innovation, the centre aims to increase transparency and data security.
The delivered outcome should be “greater trust in data, enhanced healthcare provider decision-making, providing greater data security for all parties, and most importantly, lessening the emotional and physical burden of women and families involved,” the update added.
On June 2 2021, the MyBaby Launch Ceremony was reportedly hosted by the Center for Reproductive Medicine of Renji Hospital and the Shanghai Quality Control Center for Assisted Reproductive Technology.
By combining the assurance services of DNV with VeChain’s blockchain tech, MyBaby “enables the verification of key steps of IVF and provides private, exclusive, end-to-end data access for prospective parents undergoing treatment.”
As stated in the announcement:
“MyBaby clearly demonstrates the value-add public blockchain can create for daily life. This new use case exemplifies the myriad ways blockchain can be utilized in society, touching aspects of life far beyond the common perception of the scope of the technology.”
The announcement added:
“MyBaby is the first service of its kind to combine the merits of third-party assured data verification with the immutability of blockchain technology. All information, imagery and data trails, from imagery produced by medical tools to the delivery of the zygote itself will be securely uploaded on VeChainThor blockchain and is only accessible to authorized users of the MyBaby Application.”
MyBaby’s benefits are “multifaceted,” enabling users to view and “track the extraction, labelling and scoring of fertilised eggs as well as the cultivation and preservation of embryos,” the update added while noting that the application also “solves the traditional problems associated with the privacy of sensitive medical data by minimizing the amount of intermediaries between production and delivery of data.”
As explained by the VeChain Foundation:
“The cryptographically secured properties of blockchain technology create a secure and reliable environment and enhance the user experience in a way that is unprecedented in the IVF field. Aside from the technical benefits of such an application, MyBaby also assists women and families in the emotional journey of the IVF process.”
The innovations mentioned above allow families “to gain access to key data during the earliest stages of their baby’s formation in life,” the update noted while pointing out that the last thing a family would want is to “go through complicated processes with the hospital staff to view data regarding the IVF process.” MyBaby has the “potential to bring families closer together during this emotional and physically stressful period in their life, and ease their anxieties and stress,” the announcement noted.
As mentioned in the release:
“A leader in healthcare innovation, Renji Hospital has been at the forefront of progress in the medical-blockchain space. In 2019, Renji Hospital officially announced its joining of the Digital Carbon Ecosystem, initiated by DNV and VeChain. Later, it announced a joint partnership with VeChain and DNV to spearhead the world’s first blockchain-enabled Intelligent Tumor Treatment Center.”
Sunny Lu, Co-founder and CEO at VeChain, remarked:
“We continue to see an increase in opportunities in our partnership with Renji Hospital, thanks to our unique approach of ‘blockchain + data quality assurance’ model alongside key strategic partner DNV. VeChain will continue delivering cost-effective and advanced blockchain technology to the medical world and build a trustless and multi-party digital future.”