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The 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 maneuverability of emergency healthcare drone supplies 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. The author also says that this will ease the use and development of drones within the healthcare industry. 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 usage of healthcare drones enables the efficient delivery of medical supplies to hard-to-access areas and the cost of using drones is proving to be affordable, though there is (design) limitation due to its battery limit.  

The usage of unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) in healthcare enables efficient delivery of medical supplies to hard-to-access areas. According to Knight (n.d.), the usage of UAS to deliver medical supplies in Rwanda is proving to be a game changer. In her article, she interviews Frédérique Tissandier, a spokesperson for Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization (GAVI), and Mozammil Siddiqui, manager of global operations partnerships of GAVI, where they discuss the applications of healthcare drones in Rwanda. Upon interviewing Tissandier, Knight found that accessing isolated areas in Rwanda is difficult as certain areas can only be travelled by boat. Therefore, delivery of supplies in these areas takes a considerable amount of time. However, the capabilities of drones, speeds up the delivery of vaccines and blood to people living in said remote areas. Relating to this, Knight quotes Siddiqui, “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, according to Blau (2017), drones hasten the delivery of supplies such as blood units to remote clinics within 15 minutes as compared to hours when transported by cars. Therefore, the use of drones in healthcare not only allows efficient delivery of medical supplies but also plays a significant role in preventing loss of life.

In addition to this, healthcare drones are proving to be affordable in terms of their deployability. An analysis conducted by Tavares (2019), investigates the cost-effectiveness of delivery of biomedical samples in a comparison between an electric powered van (E-van) and drones. For delivery of samples weighing 30kg, using 5 utility E-van travelling 6.3km per site, it was calculated that the total duration would take 42 minutes and cost 4.59 Euros per delivery. However, with drones, it takes a third of the time taken and costs 1.92 Euros. This shows that using drones is more efficient and cost-effective. A separate study conducts reviews 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 needed low transport cost due to the effective geographical coverage. Using long-range drones was significantly better than using short-range drones, as the cost of operation using long-range drones rivaled that of motorcycles.

Despite this, healthcare drones do have drawbacks in their design. Estévez (2020) states that one of the fundamental issues with drones is their short battery life. A drone's battery life is important as it affects its operational capability. The challenge in extending battery life is the need to balance the weight of the drone and its batteries with the payload capacity. The efficiency of a drone's power system and techniques used to manage its power consumption affects battery lives. 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, more research and development are still needed to increase the ability and efficiency of batteries used in drones and to stability.

In conclusion, the usage of healthcare drones is proving to be beneficial in the healthcare industry in terms of efficiency and cost. With the use of drones, people in remote areas can receive on time delivery of medical supplies, especially in emergency situations where they can receive vaccines and blood units within minutes. Furthermore, the cost of drones is also proving to be economically practical. However, there is still room for improvement in further development in its power source design. Healthcare drones could be revolutionary in healthcare. With further research and development, drones could be implemented as a mainstream in transporting medical supplies in the healthcare industry.

 

Amukele, T. (2020). The economics of medical drones. The Lancet Global Health, 8(1), e22.               https://www.thelancet.com/journals/langlo/article/PIIS2214-109X(19)30494-2/fulltext#back-bib4

Balasubramaniam, S. (2022, May 4). Drones may become ‘the next big thing’ in healthcare delivery. Forbes.                                                                                                                                                        https://www.forbes.com/sites/saibala/2022/01/09/drones-may-become-the-next-big-thing-in-healthcare-delivery/?sh=71bed6081e9b

Blau, M. (2017, June 13). 6 ways drones could change healthcare. Scientific American.     https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/6-ways-drones-could-change-health-care/

Estévez, J. (2020, September 9). The limitations of drones for medicine delivery. Mapping Ignorance. https://mappingignorance.org/2020/09/09/the-limitations-of-drones-for-medicine-delivery/#reference-7181-2

Grepow. (2019, December 4). Technology for future improvements in lithium-ion drone battery. Grepow Rechargeable Battery. https://www.grepow.com/blog/technology-for-future-improvements-in-lithium-ion-drone-battery.html

Knight, R. (n.d.). Drones deliver healthcare.https://www.dronesinhealthcare.com/

Reynolds, J. (2022, January 19). What is the role of a medical drone in healthcare? Iris Automation. https://www.irisonboard.com/medical-drones-in-healthcare/

Tavares, T. (2019, November 13). Comparing the cost-effectiveness of drones v ground vehicles for medical, food and parcel deliveries. Unmanned airspace.                               https://www.unmannedairspace.info/commentary/comparing-the-cost-effectiveness-of-drones-v-ground-vehicles-for-medical-food-and-parcel-deliveries/

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