Summary Reader Response Draft 1

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 In an article titled "Drones May Become ‘The Next Big Thing’ In Healthcare Delivery" written by Balasubramanian (2021), discusses the use and benefits of drones in the healthcare industry. The purpose of this technology was first envisioned for use in the aerial and military industry. However, with developing innovations, drones have been integrated into the healthcare industry. It is implied by Balasubramanian (2021) that the compact design and efficient manoeuvrability of the drone provides an opportunity to expand care to hard-to-reach patients, potentially resolving significant access to care issues. As an example, the use of drones enables faster delivery of emergency medical supplies such as automated external defibrillators in critical situations to patients experiencing out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (2021). 

It is also discussed by Balasubramanian (2021) that with the widespread use of drones in multiple industries, large corporations such as Amazon and Google have invested in their research and development. This will allow more applications of drone technology in multiple industries causing it to be mainstream in supply-chain and logistic needs, which will eventually lower the cost of drones. This will ease the use and development of drones within the healthcare industry (2021). Therefore, it is likely that drones could significantly change the healthcare industry, specifically in terms of improving the transport of healthcare provisions. 

 

The features and capabilities of drones show huge promise in revolutionising the healthcare industry. The design of healthcare drones enables the efficient delivery of medical supplies to hard-to-access areas and makes the use of drones to be affordable, though there is a limitation due to its battery limit from its design. 


The usage of unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) in healthcare enables efficient delivery of medical supplies to hard-to-access areas. According to Knight et al. (nd), the usage of UAS to deliver medical supplies in Rwanda is proving to be a game-changer. Accessing isolated areas in Rwanda can be difficult considering the fact that certain areas can only be travelled to by boat (Tissandier, nd). Therefore, delivery of supplies in these areas takes a considerable amount of time. However, with the capabilities of drones, it expedites the delivery of vaccines and blood to people living in said remote areas. As an example, quoting Siddiqui (nd), “If a child in Rwanda is bitten by a rabid animal, for example, instead of waiting hours to get the necessary vaccine, UAS can deliver it in about 15 minutes.” Furthermore, supported by Knight (nd), she discusses that drones expedites the delivery of supplies such as blood units, snake bite serum and vaccines to remote areas, enabling quick access to medical treatment in emergency situations which is key as even minutes could be the difference in preventing loss of life. Therefore, it is evident that the use of drones in healthcare not only allows efficient delivery of medical supplies but also plays an important role in preventing loss of life.


The cost of using healthcare drones is proving to be affordable in terms of its deployability and pricing per drone. An analysis conducted by Tavares (2019), investigates the cost-effectiveness of the delivery of biomedical samples between an electric powered van (E-van) and drones. For the delivery of samples weighing 30kg, using 5 utility E-van travelling a total of 6.3km per site, it was calculated that the total duration would take 42 minutes and cost 4.59 Euros per delivery. However, with the use of drones, it takes a third of the time taken and costs 1.92 Euros. Looking at these sets of data, it is shown that using drones is not only more efficient but also much more cost-effective. A separate study conducts a similar comparison between motorcycles and drones transporting medical specimens from isolated clinics to central laboratory hubs in Liberia (Amukele, 2020). It was found that per-sample transport costs, longer-range drones required low transport cost due to its effective geographical coverage. It was found that using long-range drones were significantly better than using shorter-range drones, economically, as the cost of operation using long-range drones' rivals that of motorcycles. 


In spite of this, healthcare drones do have their drawbacks in terms of its design. Its small size puts limitations on its battery life. Estévez (2020) states that one of the main issues with drones is their short battery life. A drone's battery life is important as it affects its operational capability. One of the challenges in extending battery life is the need to balance the weight of the drone and its batteries with the payload capacity. Additionally, the efficiency of a drone's power system and the techniques used to manage its power consumption affects battery life. Additionally, lithium-ion batteries used in drone technology are not perfect as they are prone to exploding when the batteries short-circuit and overheat (Grepow, 2019). Hence, further research and developments are still needed in order to not only increase the capacity and efficiency of the batteries used in drones but also to ensure that the batteries are stable.

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