Vice President Mahamudu Bawumia says about 79,800 medical products have been delivered to health care centres in remote areas across the country using drones.

This, he said, translates to the number of lives saved since the drone services were implemented in April 2019.

“When a drone is called in it means there is a critical matter at stake, life is about to be lost and we need the medication, urgently. So all these 79,800 products you can really think of it as lives that are being saved.”

Government launched the first-ever medical drone delivery service in Ghana, the largest such drone delivery network of its kind, at Omenako, near Suhum, in the Eastern Region in 2019.

The ‘Fly-To-Save-A-Life Project’, a collaboration between the Ministry of Health and Zipline Technologies, was set to provide a rapid response to medical emergencies, especially in hard to reach areas, through the flying of the unmanned vehicle to supply 12 routine and emergency services as well as 148 life-saving medical products selected by the Ministry of Health.

Drone centres were set up in four places including Omenako in the Eastern region, Sehwi Wiawso in the Western Region and Mampong in the Ashanti region.

Each centre has been assigned designated areas in the country to which medical services will be delivered by the drones.

Dr Bawumia revealed that at the Town Hall that at the end of June 2020, medical products have been delivered to 945 health facilities. 

Since the first coronavirus case was recorded in Ghana about 2500 Covid-19 test samples have been delivered by drones to testing centres in Kumasi and Accra, he said.

“That is the impact of this drone project - To improve the delivery of essential services at deprived and remote communities across Ghana,” he added.