Science & Tech
ZIPLINE, an American logistics and drone delivery services company, has pledged to transform the healthcare system in Nigeria using its Autonomous Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) to aid last mile delivery of medical supplies.
The General Manager of Zipline in Nigeria, Catherine Odiase, said this on Friday during a media roundtable held in Lagos.
She said that many developing countries often had challenges with supplying correct doses of drugs and affordable medication at their health centres.
Odiase said that in a bid to close the poor access gap to medical supplies in rural and urban communities, the company had been able to use its drone delivery services to get products to health facilities within 30 minutes.
“We are in the business of saving lives, and we are doing this by getting medical supplies instantly to locations where they are needed urgently.
“Zipline has been operating in Rwanda, Ghana and now we just started in Nigeria, and Kaduna was our starting point.
“So far, we have been able to make 3000 deliveries of medical products since we commenced operations in Kaduna,” she said.
Odiase said that the company would also soon begin operation in Bayelsa, adding that services would gradually be extended to other states as well.
She noted that the aim of the company was to transform the healthcare system, save lives through instant delivery of medication and build capacity for the indigenes of the state or communities where it operates.
She said that the company was already speaking with more health centres in Nigeria to collaborate and benefit from its drone delivery services.
The general manager said that at the moment, the company’s target was to provide last mile delivery of medical supplies to health centres and hospitals alone.
Speaking on the effectiveness of the company’s services, Odiase said that 100 deliveries were made per day.
“On the drones, the good thing about them is the fact that they have no environmental threat, because they are powered by renewable energy and has zero emission during transportation,” (NAN)
Tags: Catherine Odiase Zipline
