DUBAI — The Ministry of Health in the United Arab Emirates has announced the development of a new digital platform "Tatmeen", a track-and-trace platform for the country’s healthcare sector to fortify and secure healthcare supply chains.

As a first for the region, "Tatmeen" will use advanced serialization and tracing technology to track medicines from production to end-use. The health ministry is partnering with EVOTEQ, a UAE-based digital solution provider for the development and operations of the platform.

The solution will enable tracking of pharma products through their journey in the supply chain on a single integrated digital platform, promoting trust and transparency in the healthcare industry from end-to-end. It will also help the ministry tackle challenges such as counterfeit or expired medical supplies and unauthorized products.

Regulatory authorities will be able to use "Tatmeen" to assist them in their mission to prevent the entry of counterfeit or unauthorized medicines into the country using a web portal and mobile.

The platform will also empower consumers to be able to verify products at the point of purchase allowing them to avoid unapproved and counterfeit medicine, providing visibility on product origins, safety, and validity through a unique, serialized 2-D matrix bar code.

Awad Saghir Al Ketbi, the assistant undersecretary of the support services for the ministry, said: "Tatmeen" will be based on an advanced track and trace product for pharmaceuticals which will serve as the core serialization repository. With the use of advanced technology and standards, the solution will ensure greater accountability from participants in the healthcare supply chain and accelerate our ability to trace drugs at every point of the supply chain."

Mubaraka M. Ibrahim, the director of information technology for the ministry, noted that Tatmeen will be built using best of breed technology components which will enable speed of transaction processing, agility to change and adapt to new scenarios and deliver a highly secure mechanism to trace drugs from point of manufacture to the point of consumption.

The platform will be designed considering the future needs of the UAE healthcare market and integrated with the existing services provided by the ministry.

Jihad Tayara, CEO of EVOTEQ said: "We are proud to be working with the ministry to fulfill their ambitions of establishing a smart healthcare system in the country, offering our expertise and our established Smart Track solution to solve critical challenges and facilitate a seamless, efficient means of information exchange between everyone involved." — WAM