Delivery of parcels by drones is a relatively new niche in the field of mail forwarding: copters can replace ordinary couriers, which are people. For the medical field, the use of drones is becoming one of the innovative aspects that allow us to set new records for efficiency and productivity. Drones are used in many commercial and humanitarian business sectors. They help business and people, science, and the environment. But drones are, above all, an integral part of the future of the delivery industry. Drones lack the human error factor, which makes them indispensable contributors to the ability to quickly deliver materials that depend on time, including blood.
Typically, samples of biological material (for example, blood) need to be quickly delivered by the laboratories for analysis according to the standards. Usually, the collected samples are transported by car, but in urban conditions the traffic situation is not always predictable, and the search for other ways to transport samples is relevant (World Health Organization, 2018). Hospital employees load a container with biomaterial into the drone and activate the delivery, after which the quadcopter follows the further route on its own till it reaches the patient.
This is the appropriate use of technology, as flying drones are successfully used for prompt delivery in medicine, when delivery is either technically difficult or maximum speed is required. For example, if some settlements are temporarily or permanently separated from civilization due to floods, earthquakes, the reach by a drone is much easier (Glauser, 2018). The flight of a drone can be remotely controlled by a pilot, but it is possible to use robotic autonomous drones that fly along a route set by control points in an autonomous mode.
However, to employ drones, it is important to consider that the variable of regulation is a key constraint to market development. Focused on manned aviation, on the one hand, it limits the possibilities of using drones, on the other hand, it leaves some questions in an insufficiently developed area. Drone flight features as variables should be considered, including remote control, autonomous flights, ultra-low altitudes, flights over people. This can lead to a threat from drones to the health and life of people.
At the same time, the potential for drone use is exceptionally high. The use of drones can be developed and used for other purposes as well. For example, patients with cardiac arrest require urgent care – doctors need to get to them as quickly as possible. An ambulance can travel in an emergency, ignoring some traffic rules, but it is possible to use drones to provide emergency assistance to such patients. Moreover, completely replacing the ambulance with the drones in the future could significantly shorten the transport process and thus the anesthesia periods, as the pathology lab can be reached by air regardless of ground traffic and minimize the results of the blood disorders as per the immunohematology. In addition, drones can connect remote hospitals that are far away from any pathology lab.
In conclusion, there is no doubt that the transportation of goods using drones has great advantages compared to delivery by road, especially when it comes to hard-to-reach or remote areas. In addition, delivery by drone is carried out more quickly. Therefore, in this area, delivery using drones is developing even more actively than in the case of goods. The most important thing in medical delivery is speed, accuracy, and patency. Drones can be used in countries and regions where there are no roads at all. They allow the delivery of fragile and time-sensitive goods.
References
Glauser, W. (2018). Blood-delivering drones saving lives in Africa and maybe soon in Canada. Canadian Medical Association Journal, 190(3). Web.
World Health Organization. (2019). Drones take Rwanda’s national blood service to new heights. Web.