Rwanda, in the month of October, officially launched a new programme to deliver blood and other urgent medical supplies to rural hospitals. The programme’s specialty lies in its delivery system involving unmanned drones. The drones have been provided and operated by American company Zipline and are expected to make up to 150 deliveries per day starting from 5 hospitals.
This programme which is definitely the first of its kind in the world, intends to expand to half of Rwanda’s 45 hospitals over the next year. Biological material deliveries have been part of Rwanda’s medical infrastructure for quite time. Though the effectiveness of the existing motorcycle delivery scheme is hampered by Rwanda’s six month rainy season, during which roads can become unapproachable.
The new programme with the help of drones will effectively overcome this problem. With the ability to withstand wind and the weather, Zipline’s drones are able to deliver the orders to hospitals in 15 minutes on average. When compared, the emergency deliveries currently take an average of four hours.
