Kisumu to use drones to ship drugs, supplies

Skycart Director of Operations Africa Rogers Okeya said the drones, which will be made available in the county before the end of 2022, will play a major role of delivering hospital appliances from the laboratories to various satellite hospitals.

“The hospitals will only require a central laboratory, a working mobile app, drones and an inventory system all integrated together,” Mr Okeya said on Tuesday at the Kisumu International Innovation Week at Ciala Resort.

The drones will save the county the cost of building laboratories as it only requires one central lab.

An expert who controls the machine can load it with packages of a stipulated weight to be delivered within a single flight travelling at 129 kilometres per hour and supplying to rural health centres, thus helping with faster distribution.

For this to work, the hospitals and dispensaries will have to be connected to a central laboratory where an overall operator can view all the facilities.

A health expert from the rural health centre is then required to place an order of either drugs, blood or medicine supply's using the mobile app.

A pilot who will be working at the central point is then required to guide the drone, which automatically loads the medical supplies.

A single drone can carry up to four packets of medical supplies weighing a maximum of 15 kilos and have them delivered at different dispensaries.

One pilot can also control 10 drones, which can travel 160 kilometres at a speed of 129kph.

"The drone also has a self-balancing ability. It therefore can remain stable while traveling even when loaded with less commodities," said Mr Okeya.

The drones use rechargeable batteries which when fully charged can travel for one and a half hours.

Dr Ganda further explained that the drones will also be used in transportation of hospital samples and test results in dispensaries that may lack reagents.

Training of engineers as drone pilots is scheduled to start in February, in readiness for the rollout of the technology. They will be working at the central laboratories within the county.

"The MOU that the county government of Kisumu has today signed with Skycart marks a major milestone towards making better Universal Health Coverage," said Dr Ganda.

Jaramogi Teaching and Referral Hospital CEO George Rae welcomed, the idea, saying the drones will ensure speedy supply of hospital commodities in case of emergencies.

The new technology, according to Dr Rae will limit the cases of expiry of vaccines as they can be transported back to the main laboratory whenever the demand is low.

"The new technology will also ensure centralisation of medical supplies, ensure constant monitoring of stock-outs in all health facilities," continued Dr Rae.

The drones will also go a long way in reducing cost and expenses which would have been incurred when using other methods of transportation and reduce the man power required in the hospitals.

Kenya would be joining a handful of countries globally that are seeking to use the new technology in its health facilities.

According to Mr Okeya, the drones have been tried for use in Swaziland in delivery of parcels since 2017 and they exhibited a high level efficiency.

A few countries in the Middle-East, Asia, US as well as Rwanda and Ghana in Africa are also working towards installation of the technology in hospitals.

Drones were used in China and Chile during the Covid-19 pandemic.

In Rwanda and Ghana, drone company Zipline has pioneered medical deliveries to rural communities using light weight drones to deliver medical packages to clinics of up to 85 kilometres away.

The company has been in Rwanda since 2016 after signing an agreement with the government, and was working to expand to Tanzania.

Kenya may soon join countries using drones in its healthcare system after the Kisumu County Government signed an agreement with NGO Skycart to install multi-delivery drones to be used to deliver medical supplies to hospitals in the lakeside county.

Kisumu city is seeking to score a first in Kenya in the adoption of the new drone delivery service in its health system, which according to acting chief officer for Health in the county, Dr Gregory Ganda, will materialise in the next one year.

Skycart Director of Operations Africa Rogers Okeya said the drones, which will be made available in the county before the end of 2022, will play a major role of delivering hospital appliances from the laboratories to various satellite hospitals.

“The hospitals will only require a central laboratory, a working mobile app, drones and an inventory system all integrated together,” Mr Okeya said on Tuesday at the Kisumu International Innovation Week at Ciala Resort.

The drones will save the county the cost of building laboratories as it only requires one central lab.

An expert who controls the machine can load it with packages of a stipulated weight to be delivered within a single flight travelling at 129 kilometres per hour and supplying to rural health centres, thus helping with faster distribution.

For this to work, the hospitals and dispensaries will have to be connected to a central laboratory where an overall operator can view all the facilities.

A health expert from the rural health centre is then required to place an order of either drugs, blood or medicine supply's using the mobile app.

A pilot who will be working at the central point is then required to guide the drone, which automatically loads the medical supplies.

A single drone can carry up to four packets of medical supplies weighing a maximum of 15 kilos and have them delivered at different dispensaries.

One pilot can also control 10 drones, which can travel 160 kilometres at a speed of 129kph.

"The drone also has a self-balancing ability. It therefore can remain stable while traveling even when loaded with less commodities," said Mr Okeya.

The drones use rechargeable batteries which when fully charged can travel for one and a half hours.

Dr Ganda further explained that the drones will also be used in transportation of hospital samples and test results in dispensaries that may lack reagents.

Training of engineers as drone pilots is scheduled to start in February, in readiness for the rollout of the technology. They will be working at the central laboratories within the county.

"The MOU that the county government of Kisumu has today signed with Skycart marks a major milestone towards making better Universal Health Coverage," said Dr Ganda.

Jaramogi Teaching and Referral Hospital CEO George Rae welcomed, the idea, saying the drones will ensure speedy supply of hospital commodities in case of emergencies.

The new technology, according to Dr Rae will limit the cases of expiry of vaccines as they can be transported back to the main laboratory whenever the demand is low.

"The new technology will also ensure centralisation of medical supplies, ensure constant monitoring of stock-outs in all health facilities," continued Dr Rae.

The drones will also go a long way in reducing cost and expenses which would have been incurred when using other methods of transportation and reduce the man power required in the hospitals.

Kenya would be joining a handful of countries globally that are seeking to use the new technology in its health facilities.

According to Mr Okeya, the drones have been tried for use in Swaziland in delivery of parcels since 2017 and they exhibited a high level efficiency.

A few countries in the Middle-East, Asia, US as well as Rwanda and Ghana in Africa are also working towards installation of the technology in hospitals.

Drones were used in China and Chile during the Covid-19 pandemic.

In Rwanda and Ghana, drone company Zipline has pioneered medical deliveries to rural communities using light weight drones to deliver medical packages to clinics of up to 85 kilometres away.

The company has been in Rwanda since 2016 after signing an agreement with the government, and was working to expand to Tanzania.

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