Zipline drones to start Northern operations by end of February
Accra, Feb 3, GNA-Mr Simon Batamya Aseno, the Community Lead for Zone three Zipline Technology at Vobsi in the West Mamprusi Municipality of North East Region, says the company will start delivering medical supplies via drones in the sector by end of February.
The Centre, which would be run by an all Ghanaian crew of engineers, health professionals and logistics personnel, would deliver 148 medical products including; blood and life-saving medicines to about 500 health facilities across the Savannah, Northern, North East and Upper East Regions.
He gave the assurance that irrespective of the location of the operation Centre, all the designated points of delivery would be served, and further explained that “Our service coverage is about 80 kilometres and by air, if you are going 80 kilometres, you go the shortest distance between here and your destination.”
Mr Aseno was speaking to Journalists in the Upper East Region at Vobsi after Officials of Zipline Technology had schooled them on their operations, and flew a drone in their presence.
He noted that within the 80-kilometre radius, Bawku, parts of Garu, Navrongo, Fumbisi and all places that were farther away from the Centre were covered, adding that “The radius of coverage actually allows us to reach many health facilities.”
The Zone Leader said one of the biggest challenges the country faced was access to vital medicines on time, and stressed that the benefits of the service were enormous.
“If you look at our technology, it actually comes with a lot of speed, if we have to fly from here to Bawku, we can do that in about 30 minutes. If you were going to move with an ambulance from Vobsi to Bawku, you probably would spend more hours, especially with the bad terrain of the road between Bolga and Bawku.”
Mr Aseno emphasised that the most important aspect of the Technology was the speed in the delivery of medical products, and the capacity of the sick to access healthcare irrespective of their location in any part of the country.
He said there were some misconceptions among some sections of Ghanaians during the initial stages of the introduction of the concept, but indicated that people were beginning to realise the usefulness of the technology, which would help strengthen the public health system.
He said they had begun with Regional entries to ensure that Regional stakeholders were aware of the technology, and they would soon move to sensitize members of the public at the various community levels and also engage the media to spread information about the technology.
