Drones fly high, saving lives
Edited by Rachel Heung
Drones have drawn a lot of criticism for their use of surveillance in the military, but they are turning out to be an increasingly powerful weapon in the fight against cancer and other diseases.
The National Health Service (NHS) of England is one of the organizations testing the vehicles to transport delicate medicines to cancer patients who reside on the Isle of Wight. Chemotherapy medications often have short shelf lives, thus patients frequently have to pay to go to the mainland for treatment. What normally takes 4 hours for medication to be delivered via car and boat, drones can cut down to just thirty minutes.
Covid-19 test samples, medications, and PPE have been transported by drones between medical facilities. Drones have been used to reach distant villages in sub-Saharan Africa that lack proper health care. In Malawi, drone corridor networks have transported viral load test samples for processing at a central hospital as well as pediatric malaria, TB, polio, and rotavirus vaccines.
Additionally, the technology is demonstrating its value in situations requiring speed, such as cardiac arrests, where every second matters. In Europe, there are about 275,000 heart attacks per year, with a 10% survival rate. Drones have frequently arrived before ambulances at the scene and, for the first time, helped save the life of a 71-year-old cardiac arrest victim in Trollhattan. A bystander who also happened to be a doctor dialed 911, and three minutes later he received a defibrillator that had been delivered to the site by a hovering drone.
Though the risks that drones have raised are of concern, the benefits they bring are endless to drone on about. The capabilities of drones for increasing the range of medical care is pretty sick.
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