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Medical Knowledge Institute starts pilot project with Biometric Health Passports in Cape Town, South Africa

Oostvoorne/Cape Town, June 12th 2009 – The Medical Knowledge Institute (MKI), an international non-profit organization dedicated to healthcare education and healthcare information as a human right, is proud to announce the start of a pilot project for the introduction of a Biometric Health Passport in South Africa. The official kick off will take place on June 19th at 11.00 hrs by the Dutch Consul General, David de Waal, issuing the first health passport at the MKI Health Information Centre @ Baphumelele in Khayelitsha. priv-ID, the Dutch spin-out company of Royal Philips Electronics, provides the biometric software, the passport design, the 200 passports and is responsible for technical consultancy.

The current pilot is scheduled to last four months and will be held in three locations: the townships near Cape Town where MKI has established two of its Health Information Centres in association with the local healthcare facilities; and two nearby healthcare facilities that are associated with the South African Red Cross Society (SARCS).

The Health Passport (HP) is a new, unique approach for collecting a patient’s medical data and history in one easy to handle booklet. The HP is targeted for people of local health care facilities and especially mothers and their children who visit local Health Information Centres of MKI. The passport-sized HP is convenient for the patient, because of its size that fits into almost any pocket. It is equally convenient for the medical personnel to retrieve in a fast, reliable and most effective and complete way the past medical history of the patient, including all previously performed blood tests. Biometric fingerprint recognition is essential to verify the identity of the passport holder.

Major reasons for the introduction of a Biometric Health Passport are:
o Having health information accessible in a convenient and reliable manner;
o Improved quality of care with reliable and unpolluted patient records by means of biometric identity verification;
o Reduce cost (time & money) for patients and care-providers by having readily available the relevant health information;
o Control over own health information and increased responsibility for their health and the health of their family

Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu strongly supports the Biometric Health Passport, proving the following passage from the foreword in the passport: “I salute the Medical Knowledge Institute and priv-ID, a spin-out company of Royal Philips Electronics, for having developed this important initiative. Now, it is up to you, to support this venture by putting your very own Health Passport to work – carry it with you whenever you seek medical help, and make sure that it is always up-to-date with all information regarding your health status, and the health status of your children.”

"As Dutch Consul General I am pleased to note that a relatively small organisation like the Medical Knowledge Institute succeeded in realizing this first pilot project with a biometric Health passport", says David de Waal, Consul General of the Netherlands in Cape Town. “Health cards with biometric identification which store data on the medical situation of the patient will help quickly identifying the needs of the patient and the required treatment, thus shortening waiting time in often overcrowded waiting rooms. Patients will in future find it easier to explain their medical situation with the help of the card. As the card is a personalized document it can not be passed on to others. This has in the past led to serious medical complications".

Other partners involved in the project are: CrossMatch (biometric sensors) and Close-the-Gap (personal computers).