Ghana’s VP Mahamudu Bawumia launches world's first medical drone delivery centre

Ghana gets its first drone delivery centre at Omenako, a village near Suhum in the Eastern Region. The centre has been launched by country’s Vice President, Mahamudu Bawumia. This is said to be the largest drone delivery network in the world.

From this newly launched first medical drone centre, blood and other essential medicines and vaccines will be distributed by unmanned aerial vehicles (drones) to hospitals and other healthcare facilities.

After months of debates and discussions, the launching of first Zipline distribution centre at Omenako in the Abuakwa North municipality has successfully been accomplished. The initial cost for the first four years is estimated at USD 12 million.

The initiative titled ‘Fly to Save a Life Project’ will fly drones to make on-demand emergency deliveries of 148 different vaccines, blood products and life-saving medications. It will operate 24x7 from four distribution centres – each equipped with 30 drones and deliver to 2,000 health facilities serving 12 million people across Ghana. Once the four distribution centres are fully operational, those are expected to make up to 500 on-demand flights a day.

“The excitement today is for two reasons – first, we are now using technology to increase the access of Ghanaians to one of the basic public services that every citizen deserves. Second, we are using technology to solve a major problem in our health delivery service to those in remote areas that cannot be reached easily by roads,” Mahamudu Bawumia opined. He also said that it is now possible to prevent death of the mother in labour who needs blood as delivering critical medicine to regional and district hospitals in the shortest possible time is possible.

“I am personally excited because today Ghana joins other countries in using drone technology to deliver healthcare services, and we are also launching the biggest medical drone delivery system globally,” he said, insisting that “the use of drones is presenting a significant opportunity in changing the health delivery needs of people around the globe,” as reported by Ghana Web.

This morning, I commissioned Ghana's first medical drone delivery centre at Omenako in the Eastern Region. 1/4 pic.twitter.com/N3dJhLasCb

— Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia (@MBawumia) April 24, 2019

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