Life-saving drones on the way

Using drones to transport medicines to rural areas is fast becoming a reality across the world & South Africa could be just a step away from joining in.

A feasibility study by medical diagnostics expert Barry Mendelow, a former Wits University professor, has found drones to be an efficient & cost-effective way of carrying medical supplies & pathologists’ specimens. Mendelow said drones could be used to transport samples faster from rural to urban areas to speed up diagnoses. They could also carry medical supplies to remote areas.

The first federally approved medical delivery by drone in the US was made in July. Now a British company, Foster & Partners, has proposed Rwanda for testing the world’s first drone port. In Papua New Guinea, international tech company Matternet teamed up with Doctors Without Borders to carry specimens by drone in order to get diagnoses of TB confirmed as quickly as possible & curb the disease’s spread.

Mendelow said drones could have a major effect on South Africa’s TB crisis.Until now medical specimens have been carried over vast distances by taxi, often on very bad roads.

“The amount of DNA needed for a TB diagnosis is minuscule & samples would be disinfected & pose no threat of spreading the disease,” he said.

Mendelow said his study had found that drones would be extremely reliable & cost-effective “compared to what we pay for the current forms of transport. “When Mendelow began his research 10 years ago, no other countries were considering drones but now several have begun the process.

South Africa is among 5% of the worlds population to regulate the commercial use of drones. SA Civil Aviation Authority spokesman Kabelo Ledwaba said people wanting to start drone transport operations would have to “demonstrate a suitable safety case for evaluation”. He warned that there were “numerous factors to be considered”.

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With thanks to Times Live

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