Cross River partners firm to distribute medical supplies with drone

The Cross River Government has partnered with Zipline, a national-scale drone delivery service, for on-demand delivery of medical supplies to health facilities across the state.

Mr Daniel Marfo, the Senior Vice President of Africa at Zipline give this hint in a statement on Monday in Lagos.

Marfo said Zipline plans to initially build two distribution centres to facilitate deliveries to more than 1,000 health facilities that serve millions of people across the state.

He said the medical supplies included vaccines, medications and blood products.

“These distribution centres will support the delivery of medical supplies on 24 hours a day and seven days a week basis.

“Construction of the first distribution centre is expected to begin immediately and be completed within six months from the start date,’’ he said.

According to him, the partnership is made possible by the foresight of Gov. Benedict Ayade and with the collaboration of the state Commissioner for Health, Dr Betta Edu and others.

Marfo said that Zipline aims to significantly improve the health delivery system and increase access to health care for communities across the state.

“We are on a mission to transform health care systems around the world.

“We are thrilled to partner with Cross River State as they invest in innovation to improve the health of their people,’’ Marfo said.

He said the firm was working to reimagine how health systems work, how to best deliver care to patients and increase access for all people by designing a better system.

The vice president said Zipline would support all health facilities with emergency response capabilities, as well as routine and stock-out response deliveries of medicines, vaccines and blood.

Zipline, he said, would also serve as the sole supplier for some health facilities in remote regions in Cross River, thus creating a more efficient delivery service.

According to him, the partnership between Zipline and the state will lead to the creation of healthcare and engineering jobs for indigenes of the state.

The statement also quoted Ayade as saying that the “partnership will lead to knowledge transfer in the area of drone technology’’.

The governor remarked that healthcare was one of his administration’s top priorities.

“We are committed to creating a functional system in which no one is left behind.

“Zipline is a key and innovative part of our investment in our health systems.

“Their delivery service will help us to remove barriers in access to health care and create a more equitable and efficient health system across the state.

“The focus of this partnership is to ensure that all barriers hindering the successful delivery of medical commodities to our people are removed.

“This is one of many forward-thinking interventions we are implementing to consolidate the gains we have made within the health care system,’’ Ayade said.