After years of research into centralized Patient Identification, I have concluded that neither a national ID alone nor a central Master Patient Index (MPI) is suitable for developing countries. Yes, I know; this goes against all logic. I was a strong advocate of centralized Patient ID management until the recent past. An ideal Patient ID scheme needs to meet to a large extent all of the following - unique, Inexpensive, simple, uncontroversial, unchanging, uncomplicated. Sinc