A digital genetic passport will appear in our country

Profiles will be created starting from birth, and information on genomic sequencing will also be included in the passport, Mikhail Murashko, head of the Ministry of Health of our country, said.

What happened

• Already in 2021, an information system will be launched in our country that will form a digital profile of patients. In addition, for our country, from birth, they will create “a kind of digital passport” with genetic information. This was announced on July 5 by Minister of Health Mikhail Murashko at a meeting with students at the Ural State Medical University in Yekaterinburg.
• The virtual document will contain genome sequencing data that will allow the identification of susceptibility to various diseases. They want to issue such a passport to newborns.
• Sequencing is the determination of the sequence of nucleotides in a DNA molecule. With the help of such an analysis, the human genome can be determined. Sequencing helps determine the causes of hereditary diseases, predict pathogenic mutations in family planning, and learn about susceptibility to diseases (such as cancer).
• It is likely that the innovations are primarily related to the COVID-19 pandemic. “The first medical examination this year will begin on July 1, and we are preparing for it. We are compiling lists of people who have suffered covid, including severely. There are still people who have not visited the clinic for several years. On the one hand, a person is proud of this, but sometimes he is faced with a devastating situation when the disease is already running, and now it is difficult to overcome this problem. Therefore, personification with the participation of digital technologies is a necessary thing,” Murashko emphasized.
• Recall that Vladimir Putin approved genetic certification in 2019. Genetic passportization of the population is indicated in Presidential Decree No. 97 of March 11, 2019.

What does it mean

• The trend towards the introduction of digital medicine and remote diagnosis. For example, in 2021, two clinics in Moscow completely switched to electronic medical records. Also, simplified access has doubled the interest of Muscovites in electronic medical records.
• Prevention of diseases at an early stage. In 2016, Chinese scientists modified genes to treat cancer. In 2017, in the United States, they learned how to edit a person – to treat hereditary diseases and predispositions even at the embryonic level. In our country, research is also underway in the field of genome editing and the treatment of genetic diseases.
• Genetic digital passport will reduce overdiagnosis. The growth of cancer is associated with overdiagnosis. BAD, depression, ADHD are the object of medicalization, and therefore the object of overdiagnosis.
• Overdiagnosis also exists due to the romanticization of mental disorders. Geneticist Ekaterina Pomerantseva in the program “Scientists against myths” said that some parents come with requests of this kind: “what should I do to give birth to a special child.”
• The problem of overdiagnosis is also illustrated by Rosenhan’s 1973 experiment questioning the accuracy of psychiatric diagnosis. Although here it is worth considering the time of the study, as well as the fact that the tendency to hang diagnoses on oneself that are not there is also a disorder – Munchausen’s syndrome.