Drones, a valuable tool for delivering medical supplies

The current health emergency has given a major boost to the use of drones for the delivery of essential medical supplies, especially in rural communities and remote areas.

China for example has been using them during the epidemic to transport medical samples and quarantine supplies between Xinchang County People’s Hospital and the county’s disease control centre.

In this application, drones have significantly reduced contact between hospital staff and improved delivery speeds by 50% compared to road transport. A number of pharmaceutical groups have also been testing them for some time with a high degree of success.

Merck & Co. (New Jersey) has investigated the potential of drones to deliver medicines and vaccines at controlled temperatures (below -70°C). Swiss multinational Novartis is making sickle cell disease treatments available in rural areas of Ghana. Novo Nordisk (Denmark) is using them to supply diabetes drugs and collecting blood samples on an island off the west coast of Ireland. Pfizer is using drone technology to support health systems and expand access to care in rural areas, notably in a project to deliver 150 different medicines to an estimated 2,000-2,500 healthcare facilities in Ghana.