Ghana will use drones to supply blood to villages from 2019

The Chairman of the Health Committee in Ghana’s Parliament Dr Twum Nuamah has said that drones will be used to transport blood and other emergency products to remote areas in the country.

According to him, this will ensure that people who live in places with difficult access to a decent mode of transportation to also enjoy quality healthcare.

Presenting his committee’s report on a private partnership agreement between the Government of Ghana and Fly Zip line GH Limited on the floor, Dr Twum Nuamah said this will also reduce the issues associated with the supply of medical essentials to rural areas in the country with unmotorable roads.

Dr Twum Nuamah said that in 2017, statistics showed that out of the 197 maternal deaths, 100 were attributed to bleeding. He argued further that if the drone service was in place by then a lot more lives could have been saved.

He, therefore, noted that Ghana will need the agreement to improve on the country’s health services.

He explained that the agreement will see the universal health coverage as a critical achievement of the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG), particularly goal 3.

Dr Twum Nuamah explained that goal 3 is to ensure a healthy life and well-being of all ages by the year 2030.

Meanwhile, the World Health Organization (WHO) defines universal health as ensuring that all people have access to needed promotive, preventive, curative and rehabilitative health services.

But debating the report which was to receive approval in order to take effect, the ranking member of the health committee Yile Kyere argued that a drone can only carry a load of just 1.5 kilograms and therefore cannot entirely resolve the distribution challenge.