Bawumia to launch medical drone delivery service today

The Vice President, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, will today, Wednesday, launch the drones-for-medical-supplies initiative at Zipline’s first distribution centre at Omenako, a town in the Suhum Municipality in the Eastern Region.

The $12.5 million contract is to enable the Ghana Health Service to fly blood and other essential medical supplies to deprived and hard-to-reach areas.

When at full operations, Zipline expects to be running over 150 flights per day from each of its four distribution centres nationwide.

Prior to the official launch, Zipline had been conducting its final testing and diagnostics of its equipment by flying a drone to deliver vaccines to the New Tafo Hospital in the Eastern Region.

Some patients and health officials at the New Tafo Government Hospital already testified to the effectiveness of the initiative.

Charles Coffie, a 44-year-old driver said the equipment had already proven it’s work by saving his life with timely delivery of blood.

“Yesterday [Monday] I was seriously bleeding after my operation so my family members were informed that I needed blood immediately and this drone saved me. And I think it is a good initiative,” he told Citi News on Tuesday.

Zipline began its initial testing and diagnostic flights from its first distribution centre at Omenako on March 1, 2019.

It will be capable of making emergency deliveries of life-saving medications to over 2,000 health facilities across the country.

When at full operations, Zipline expects to be running over 150 flights per day from each of its four distribution centres nationwide.

Fly Zipline launched a similar service in Rwanda in 2006 to improve public health delivery in that country.

Lawsuit

The service’s implementation is already facing a lawsuit from the Member of Parliament for Ashaiman, Ernest Norgbey because the deal was sole-sourced.

Mr. Norgbey in his writ insisted that per the Public Procurement Act, there was no justification for the government to sole-source the contract to Fly Zipline.

He had earlier expressed concern that the contract did not satisfy laid down procedures in the Public Procurement Act.

He further argued in the writ that the government “did not do due diligence or survey the market before embarking on single sourcing method of procurement.”

Source: citifmonline.com