Denis Opudo
What are drones used for in your country? A recent partnership between the Rwandan health ministry and Zipline which is a drone startup has helped in the reduction of the death rates that were being witnessed in the past. The drones have played an important role in the health sector by distributing medical requirements like blood through the air to the rural areas with poor transport networks. Zipline is said to have used drones to deliver more than 5500 units of blood to help those working in remote areas where medical supplies are rare to find.
Approximately twelve hospitals in the country are working with the organization to access the drone networks. The services have helped those hospitals to offer services to more than 5 million citizens. Blood delivery via the drones has led to the reduction of time used for delivery from 4 hours to 45 minutes this is according to the Rwandan government. The drones are in a position to fly up to a height of 60mph through the sky with the delivery network in a position to notify the hospital staff when the drone is almost at its drop-off point.
Immediately the drone arrives at its destination; it drops the delivery of the supplies while on air, after that it goes back to its normal speed as the delivery of the package is done by a parachute. According to Kellner Rinaudo who is the co-founder of Zipline, it still disturbs some of the renowned companies in the world on how the process takes place. He encourages them to learn from the East African region. The Rwandan government has posed a challenge to various governments in the world especially Africa on the importance of putting much emphasis on the health sector. What are drones used for in your country and is your government committed like that of Rwanda? If Rwanda made it there is no ground for excuses to the rest of African countries on why they should not improve their health sectors.
