A chip that helps access medical record

A US company has come up with a tiny chip that can be implanted in people's arms and helps them access their medical records.

Patients who suffer from a chronic disease have to frequently carry their medical records as they go from one doctor to another. This might soon be passé for a US company has come up with a tiny chip that can be implanted in people's arms and helps them access their medical records.

According to Nature, VeriChip, made by Applied Digital Solutions in Delray Beach, Florida, is the size of grain of rice and is injected under a patient's skin. It is a type of radio-frequency identification (RFID) tag, and contains a computer chip encoded with a unique identification number and a tiny antenna.

A scanner that emits radio waves is waved over the chip and reads the tag. This is detected by the antenna, which generates a tiny electrical current in the chip and powers the tag into sending back a radio signal that reveals the ID number.

The chips could be used to pull up a patient's personal and medical records from a secure database. This could prove useful when, for example, someone is unconscious or has numerous records at different clinics that must be pulled together in an emergency.