S’pore to Digitalise Health Records to Aid in Restoring Confidence in Cross-Border Travel

Travelling has never seemed so much like a pipe dream until now. But with the global effort to curb the spread and vaccinations underway, perhaps we’re inching closer to cross border travel.

Of course, Singapore is doing everything we can to open up again once the situation is safe.

Why Digitalise Health Records?

On Tuesday (2 Mar), a portal was launched for authorised clinics to send out pre-departure COVID-19 test (PDT) certificates.

From 10 March 2021 onwards, all clinics that perform the PDT for outbound travellers will shift from issuing physical certificates to digital ones instead.

According to The Straits Times, the original shift was planned to be on 10 February 2021, however, it was pushed back to allow clinics and labs additional time to “set up the capability to digitalise the PDT certificates.”

This article noted that the move to digitalise came after the slew of negative coronavirus test certificates exposed by overseas authorities. These scams were reported in France, Spain, the Netherlands, and Britain.

Europol has warned that this problem will continue as long as travel restrictions are in place.

Echoing the importance of authentic documentations, Ms Ginny Foo, the chief executive officer of Innovative Diagnostics and Quest Laboratories, said the digitalisation effort in Singapore is aimed at eliminating paper-based documents, which can be easily misplaced or altered.

Digital health records will also provide more convenience to airport staff, as explained by Singapore’s Ministry of Health (MOH).

“These digital PDT certificates will smoothen and expedite check-in processing and Customs clearance at foreign and local immigration checkpoints, especially as Singapore ramps up travel for both inbound and outbound travellers.”

Ms Foo also agreed that checks at immigration to spot such fake documents are laborious and unproductive.

How Do They Work?

The portal is owned by Innovative Diagnostics and Quest Laboratories, who will eventually merge to form Innoquest Diagnostics, the largest independent lab in Singapore.

The IQportal has an open-source scheme and has a set of standards to ensure that digital certificates can be recognised globally. This is in compliance with HealthCert’s standards.

Clinics have to log in to the portal to verify the patients’ details, and only then will they issue the digital certificates via the IQportal.

The digital certificate will be sent by email to the travellers and they will have to upload the documents to the Government’s Notarise website. This allows MOH to ensure that their certificates are authentic and thus will be recognised worldwide.

A notarised digital certificate containing a QR code will be sent to the traveller’s SingPass Mobile app or e-mail address.

At the airport, airline and immigration officials can scan the QR code to check the authenticity of the record. Currently, GovTech’s platform Verify and Affindi’s verification tool is being used by airport staff.

Verify will be able to check whether the digital certificate was tampered with and whether the certificate has been notarised by the Health Ministry.

Complements Separate Trial in Jakarta

The Straits Times also mentioned that the digital certificate will be an appropriate addition to a separate trial that involved passengers from Jakarta or Kuala Lumpur on Singapore Airlines (SIA) flights.

The inbound travellers would have to go through to PDTs at selected clinics in the countries, which will then give them a digital certificate.

The process which SIA used is based on the International Air Travel Association’s (IATA) Travel Pass framework. Information on the COVID-19 health status of the traveller is contained on IATA’s platform.

Apparently, there are plans underway for HealthCerts and Travel Pass to work in conjunction with each other in Singapore.

Trustworthy Platforms

After a few data breaches in Singapore, especially the SingHealth incidents, how can we make sure that our health records will be secure?

GovTech’s HealthCerts are tamper-proof and are built on blockchain technologies, which involve the use of decentralised digital databases containing information about transactions that is visible to all in the chain, according to The Straits Times.

In addition, the IQportal is based on another firm’s technology which fits the standards of HealthCerts. It also lowers the chance of any information errors as it takes patients’ data from official sources.

If you’re also worried about whether the airport staff will have access to your private details in your health records, the answer is no. The Smart Nation and Digital Government Office (SNDGO) explained that your data will remain private with the digital certificate.

Only a hash or a digital fingerprint is published to the blockchain when you are issued a digital certificate and only the hash is needed to check the validity of the certificate.

Minister-in-charge of the Smart Nation Initiative in the Prime Minister’s Office Vivian Balakrishnan also noted that the government will look into extending this process to vaccine certificates though it is not clear when.

SNDGO expressed that the government will closely monitor the situation and that it is discussing with other countries on the mutual recognition of vaccine certifications, but it “will take some time as most countries have only just started vaccinations”

To read more about the Smart Nation initiative in the pandemic, click here.

Feature Image: Creative Caliph / Shutterstock.com