Health workers and residents of the Oti Region are impressed with the services of Zipline drones medical services in the various communities of the region.

According to them, Zipline has positively impacted the lives of residents.

The residents say in some remote areas of the Oti Region, the services of Zipline have made it very easier for them to have access to medications, especially anti-snake drugs which would formally have taken several days or weeks to get to their communities due to the long distance and the bad roads.

The Krachi West Municipal Health Director, Victor Ahiabah, praised Zipline for its impact on healthcare delivery across the country through its timely and innovative instant delivery services via drones to about 2,421 health facilities, especially the Oti Region.

He noted that prior to the services of Zipline, there were a lot of issues with regard to delays in medical suppliers to the municipality, especially during emergency issues in the health centers.

 Mr. Ahiaba noted that since the introduction of Zipline, they have been able to have consistent medical suppliers within five minute, anytime the various health centers sent requests to the facility for medications.

Abigail Kwao and Barbara Sam, nurses at the Chantai and Adonten Cement health centers, say Zipline's medical drone delivery services are an amazing intervention that ensures timely medical supplies to the health facilities.

Mr Victor Ahiaba noted that the lives of many patients have been saved by the multiple units of blood delivered through Zipline’s timely response by drone delivery.

“The impact of Zipline services has been that of a good intervention; because without some of the products from Zipline, which have always been timely, we can’t attend to our patients with what we need to treat them. The problem is that we don’t always have supplies in stock because of some impediments but with using Zipline services the supplies come in time to help us,” he said.

“There was an emergency case in our maternity ward when a pregnant woman came in with ectopic pregnancy for which the doctors needed more blood supplies for the patient. We had only one unit of blood available and so had to call Zipline for more. We received three drone deliveries of blood, which helped in saving the woman’s life,” he added.

Since establishing itself in Ghana in 2019, Zipline Ghana has expanded from one distribution hub to six hubs in remote areas of the country, making Ghana home to the world’s largest fleet of medical-delivery drones.

Zipline delivers up to four pounds (1.8kg) of medical commodities to remote clinics and hospitals within an 80-kilometre radius from each distribution hub within minutes.

The Team Lead for Oti Region, Micheal Kwaku commended the government of Ghana for its partnership and support in helping transform healthcare delivery in Ghana.

He noted that the services of Zipline in the communities have brought so much relief to the residents making it a fulfilling moment for the organization

Micheal Nukpui noted that Zipline serves the whole of the Oti Region and makes sure that the communities have positive impacts from their services, especially in regards to the blood drive outreach in the various communities.

He noted that schools have also started benefiting from their services by organizing educational outreach from schools in the region as well as public health events for the communities to help the residents have in-depth knowledge about their services.

Since its introduction in 2019, Zipline’s innovative instant delivery services have made over 12 million deliveries comprising medical commodities, routine vaccines, COVID-19 samples and vaccines, and blood products – fortifying Ghana’s position as the hub of the world’s largest drone medical delivery service.

The work of Zipline from April 2019 to date includes delivering some 8.63 million lifesaving medical products or medicines, about 1.9 million child immunization vaccine consumables, and over 1.4 million COVID-19 vaccines and PPEs.

It has also made about 10,000 deliveries of blood products across the country.