At times distribution and storage of drugs can be challenging and scandalous as well.
Zipline, a logistics company, will now use its autonomous aircraft technology for the storage and delivery of COVID-19 vaccines, blood products, and additional medical stocks to health facilities within Kisumu County.
Zipline company and Kisumu County have come into agreement to facilitate the use of autonomous aircraft technology for the storage and delivery of COVID-19 vaccines, blood products, and other medical commodities to health facilities in the county.
The agreement called the Kisumu Universal Health Acceleration Project seeks to remove barriers to access to COVID-19 vaccines and other medical commodities within the county.
It stipulates the establishment as well as the operation of a Zipline distribution hub in Kisumu County. Which, will act as the operations base for the Zipline uncrewed aerial system (UAS) and the Zipline services too. With the ability to serve health projects and facilities across 16 counties in western Kenya.
Kisumu Governor Prof Anyang’ Nyong’o, said, “We have made some significant efforts in improving the overall healthcare delivery to our people. It is heartwarming to note, therefore, that our mission of achieving universal health coverage is on course with this historic partnership which will ensure that no one is left behind as a result of their location”.
Commenting on the partnership, the Chair of Lake Region Economic Bloc (LREB) and County Governor of Kakamega Wycliffe Oparanya said, “it is our commitment as LREB to deliver an aggressive agenda of building a robust health delivery system that will not only serve a few but the vast majority of people within LREB Counties. Zipline’s technology is one we can resort to in accelerating the transformation of our health systems to provide timely healthcare solutions to the people on whose mandate we serve”.
On his part, the CEC of Health, Dr. Gregory Ganda said, “I am happy to note that this is one step towards reducing operational inefficiencies that inhibit access to universal healthcare in our country and region”.
“We’ve seen how automated, on-demand delivery can transform healthcare systems to make them more efficient, effective, and equitable,” said Keller Rinaudo, co-founder, and CEO of Zipline. “Zipline’s expansion into Kenya, our seventh country, in partnership with Kisumu County, is a pivotal step forward to expand these important benefits to more communities around the world.”
The Snr. Vice President for Zipline Africa, Mr. Daniel Marfo, also assured that Zipline will expedite the distribution hub construction process to ensure that access to healthcare for life-threatening illnesses and vaccines is achieved rapidly. “This Zipline and Kisumu County partnership is a powerful collaboration that will solidify transformational logistics medical delivery in Western Kenya and put Kenya on the forefront of health excellence”, he said.
As a result of the start of Zipline’s UAS delivery operations from its distribution hub in Kisumu County, the parties will collaborate in a project operations phase. According to the standard operating procedure and terms of service, with a major goal of providing medical commodities such as the doses of the COVID-19 vaccine to health facilities within the operational area.
Zipline’s footprint in Africa has seen it establish business partnerships in Rwanda, Ghana, Nigeria, Cote d’Ivoire, and now Kenya. Where it seeks to carry out an industrious technology-driven transformation in the health sector.
A Little More About Drones Use in Healthcare
Providing essential health care to communities is no easy assignment. Medical specialists from emergency responders to third world aid workers to time-stressed staffers in large hospitals encounter a lot of challenges every day—challenges unmanned aircraft systems can help overcome.
Well for starters, drones were first used to deliver food aid and medical supplies to areas struck by disaster including Haiti, by a startup known as Matternet
Drones facilitate the delivery of blood, vaccines, snakebite serum, and other medical supplies to rural areas and can easily reach patients who need immediate medical attention within minutes. In some cases, these deliveries could mean the difference between life and death.
They can also transport medicine and blood between hospital walls, and give elderly patients tools to support them as they age in place.. Generally providing a variety of exciting life and money-saving possibilities to the healthcare industry.
“Drones are going to decrease the reliance on human beings that provide care and decrease the cost of assisting people,” said Dr. Jeremy Tucker, vice president of patient safety and regional medical director at MEP Health. “Being able to cross long distances at faster speeds to deliver blood products and lab samples also is a huge benefit. Now transporting blood products between hospitals, for example, involves vehicles on the ground that are prone to accidents and delays. Drones can help decrease those incidents.”
The chances are there, which is why researchers, manufacturers, and nonprofit organizations are starting to depend on the Uncrewed Aerial Systems (UAS) to provide applications that improve efficiencies and improve medical outcomes.
Transporting Blood and Other Supplies
As drones are integrated more into the healthcare industry, Tucker said the first area that will benefit more is delivery. Extensive research is ongoing in this area with some countries starting to benefit from this type of UAS application.
Drone manufacturer Flirtey, recently finalized the first ship-to-shore drone delivery in the U.S. The mission, held in conjunction with the John Hopkins University School of Medicine and the nonprofit Field Innovation Team (FIT), demonstrated how UAS can ferry aid including medical supplies and water during a disaster situation, according to a press release.
During the demo the drones carried medical samples for emergency testing, flying them between an onshore medical relief camp at Cape May, N.J., and a test facility on a vessel off the New Jersey coast. The drones also transported medical supplies from the vessel to the onshore medical camp.
This wasn’t the first time Flirtey has completed successful missions for the healthcare field. The company was part of the Let’s Fly Wisely event in Wise, Va., where they worked with the Remote Area Medical Clinic (RAM), the Mid-Atlantic Aviation Partnership at Virginia Tech (MAAP), and NASA to deliver medical packages to volunteers on the ground. Who in turn ensured that the underserved attendees received the packages—marking the first time a UAS delivered medical supplies and pharmaceuticals in the US.
Stan Brock, founder, and president of RAM, a nonprofit organization that offers medical care to remote areas, first became interested in deploying delivery drones a few years ago. At the time, the group had just begun air ambulance operations to take medicine and vaccines to parts of the upper Amazon rainforest.
Manned fixed-wing helicopters fly after every two days to take vaccines, snakebite serum, and other medical supplies to remote villages. Which is a more expensive and complex operation as compared to using UAS.
“It would be extremely helpful if we were able to send packages of medicine and vaccines over great distances by drone,” Brock said. “In that part of Virginia (where Let’s Fly Wisely took place), a large number of underserviced people can’t get out of the house during the winter, particularly during inclement weather, but are in desperate need of blood pressure medicine or whatever medicine it is. A drone could take that medicine to them where a vehicle wouldn’t be able to do so.”
The timely delivery of vaccines, medications, and supplies right to destinations could quash outbreaks of life-threatening communicable diseases.
Drones can deliver medications and supplies to patients being cared for in their homes. The future will see more outpatient care and even home-based care that used to be delivered in the hospital. For many conditions, drone technology may make it easier and safer to provide this home-based care.
When a provider rounds on a home patient, blood can be drawn and sent immediately by a drone to the lab for testing. Medications, antibiotics, and treatments ordered by the provider may also be delivered to the home by the drone.
In the future, drones, robots, and artificial intelligence will likely assume many tasks performed by humans in the healthcare industry. Greatly reducing variability, error, and cost as well. But might also add up to the glaring unemployment rate.
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