In the article "Drones May Become ‘The Next Big Thing’ In Healthcare Delivery," Balasubramanian (2022) introduces the public to the features and applications of drone technology in the modern healthcare sector. Balasubramanian (2022) mentioned that researchers from the University of Cincinnati reported that drones enable the healthcare industry to provide care to patients in remote areas by effectively utilising drones equipped with a camera for telehealth and virtual care, allowing them to connect virtually and provide patients with the necessary aid. Drones fitted with waterproof boxes the size of small first-aid kits allow for fast and intact delivery of healthcare supplies and goods (i.e., COVID-19 vaccines) globally (Balasubramanian, 2021). Balasubramanian (2021) states that the use of drones can help to attend to out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) patients by delivering patients with automatic external defibrillators (AEDs). According to the study, drones had a 92% delivery success rate, and AED drones arrived before ambulances (Schierbeck et at., 2022). As a result, the usage of AEDs in the early-cardiac arrest period increased survival rates to 50-70% (Balasubramanian, 2021). Healthcare industries should adopt and implement drone technology to provide pharmaceutical care to rural areas as it can fly, is battery-powered and small.
In terms of drones having the ability to fly, drone deliveries provide a faster and more efficient way of distributing goods. With a battery-powered source, rotors, propellers, and a frame, drones can fly and manoeuvre through the air space, increasing time efficiency (Lutkevich, n.d.). Drone delivery reduces distance and time traversed since they can move in three dimensions and are not physically confined by a road network (Moshrev-Javadi, Lee & Winkenbach, 2020). Unlike traditional delivery vehicles like trucks, drones are not affected by traffic congestion allowing them to travel faster significantly, cutting down delivery time (Moshrev-Javadi et al., 2020). Additionally, drones can reduce the response time during health emergencies, for example, the transfer of blood or other medical supplies from a medical facility to remote villages, helping to save more lives (Nyaaba & Ayamga, 2021).
Regarding drones being battery-powered, substituting drones for traditional delivery methods reduces air pollution, making them an appealing solution for enabling sustainable and environmentally friendly transportation systems. The United States Environmental Protection Agency (n.d.) affirms that the transportation sector contributes approximately 27% of the total greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions making it the largest contributor to U.S. GHG emissions. With drones being electrically powered and requiring less energy consumption, it emits a lesser amount of GHG emission, lowering the carbon footprint and improving environmental sustainability (Borghetti et al., 2021; Chiang et al., 2019). An analysis shows that greenhouse gas emissions per parcel were 84% lower for drones than diesel vehicles (Krier, 2022). Despite drones travelling more distance along an identical route because of carrying one package at a time, studies still show that drones emit less carbon dioxide than trucks (French, 2022). The usage of drones can also help lower the overall cost of delivery systems due to them not requiring any fuel, lesser operation costs and reduced human resources cost as a single person can operate several drones simultaneously (Würbel, 2017).
Furthermore, drones are small, allowing them to reach and provide isolated regions with healthcare access. Drones are battery-powered and do not require a fuel tank making their overall frame dimension smaller and more compact. Rural communities have poor access to healthcare and are geographically far from hospitals (Brown, 2022). Nevertheless, drones are a potential solution for ensuring that everyone, regardless of where they live, has access to high-quality healthcare (Liu & Reuter, 2021). A cargo drone is six times smaller than a helicopter and can fly at a lower altitude making it easier to fit in tight spaces and land (Brown, 2022). The existing method of delivering medical supplies between islands by helicopter is inefficient and it may result in some of the most remote locations being overlooked due to limited landing zone areas for the helicopters (Brown, 2022). Additionally, fixed-wing drones may perform aerial deliveries by dropping medical supplies that parachute down into a three-metre-wide landing zone which is ten times smaller than the landing zone of a helicopter (Brown, 2022). Helicopters, on the other hand, are unable to drop supplies while in the air due to the risk of the parachute being entangled in the rotor blades (Brown, 2022).
However, the concern regarding drones is that they have a limited payload weight that they can carry without affecting its functionality. The payload weight affects the flight range of drones (Jeong, Song & Lee, 2019). The heavier the payload, the higher the battery consumption rate will be due to its inversely proportional relationship (Torabbeigi, M. & Lim, G. J., 2019). However, efforts are underway to develop a hybrid truck-drone delivery that focuses on the strengths of these individual vehicles that can be selectively and synergistically exploited (Jeong et al., 2019).
In conclusion, drones are coherent in providing rural areas with access to healthcare due to their ability to fly which increases time efficiency as they require less time to make deliveries and respond to emergencies. Drones are battery-powered making them eco-friendly since they produce fewer air pollutants. Drones are small allowing them to reach remote areas with ease. Notably, the limited payload weight that drones can carry limits their ability to offer pharmaceutical care to rural areas. However, there are methods for developing a hybrid delivery system to resolve the drawback. As a result of their capabilities, drones are ideal for providing pharmaceutical care to rural areas.
References:
Balasubramanian, S. (2022). 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=74a136f51e9b
Balasubramanian, S. (2021). A New First Responder: How Drones May Revolutionize Healthcare. Forbes.
Borghetti, F., Caballini, C., Carboni, A., Grossato, G., Maja, R., Barabino, B. (2021). The Use of Drones for Last-Mile Delivery: A Numerical Case Study in Milan, Italy. Sustainability, 4(3), pp.1766. https://doi.org/10.3390/su14031766
Brown, R. (2022). Challenges faced by drones in healthcare- Drones can help improve healthcare but it is still a new technology. Robotics Tomorrow. https://www.roboticstomorrow.com/story/2022/07/challenges-faced-by-drones-in-healthcare-drones-can-help-improve-healthcare-but-it-is-still-a-new-technology-/19113/
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Jeong, H. Y., Song, B. D., Lee, S. (2019). Truck-drone hybrid delivery routing: Payload-energy dependency and No-Fly zones. International Journal of Production Economics, vol.214, pp.220-233. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijpe.2019.01.010
Krier, F. (2022). Drones bearing parcels deliver big carbon savings. Nature. https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-022-02101-3#:~:text=A%20study%20comparing%20the%20environmental,drones%20than%20for%20diesel%20trucks
Liu, P., Reuter, T. (2021). 5 lessons from Africa on how drones could transform medical supply chains. World Economic Forum. https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2021/04/5-lessons-from-africa-on-how-drones-could-transform-medical-supply-chains/
Lutkevich, B. (n.d.), drone (UAV). TechTarget IoT Agenda.
Moshrev-Javadi, M., Lee, S. & Winkenbach,M. (2020) Design and evaluation of a multi-trip delivery model with truck and drones. Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, vol.136, pp.1366-5545. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tre.2020.101887
Nyaabaa, A. A., Ayamga, M. (2021) Intricacies of medical drones in healthcare delivery: Implications for Africa. Technology in Society, vol.66, pp.160-791. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.techsoc.2021.101624
Schierbeck, S., Hollenberg, J., Nord, A., Svensson, L., Nordberg, P., Ringh, M,. Forsberg, S., Lundgren, P., Axelsson, C., Claesson, Andreas. (2021). Automated external defibrillators delivered by drones to patients with suspected out-of-hospital cardiac arrest. European Heart Journal, vol 43(15), pp.1477-1478. https://doi.org/10.1093/eurheartj/ehab498
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Torabbeigi, M. & Lim, G. J. (2019) Drone Delivery Scheduling Optimization Considering Payload-induced Battery Consumption Rates. J Intell Robot Syst, 97, pp.471–487. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10846-019-01034-w
Würbel, H. (2017). Framework for the evaluation of cost-effectiveness of drone use for the last-mile delivery of vaccines. ResearchGate. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/318112866_Framework_for_the_evaluation_of_cost-effectiveness_of_drone_use_for_the_last-mile_delivery_of_vaccines
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