A MEDICAL DRONE delivery service is set to launch in Ireland in the coming months.
Wing and Apian, two UK-based companies, have partnered to connect healthcare providers with drone operators and services.
Wing designs and manufactures autonomous drones that can plan their own routes and respond to delivery requests on demand, while Apian is a healthcare logistics company founded by a team of doctors from the UK’s National Health Service (NHS).
Later this year, Wing and Apian will work with hospitals, healthcare and pharmacy providers in south Dublin to create a “rapid medical delivery network” in the area.
Shannon Nash, chief financial officer with Wing, said this network “improve the patient experience while reducing traffic congestion and emissions in the community”.
She said she looks forward to “engaging with the local community and stakeholders as we develop the operations and begin flights”.
Nash added that “healthcare should benefit from on-demand delivery much like consumers do in their personal lives”.
“Our technology is designed to deliver pharmacy items, laboratory samples, and medical devices and supplies very quickly in urban and suburban environments,” said Nash.
“Medical drone delivery can provide a faster, more reliable, lower-cost solution than ground-based alternatives.
“We aim to address speed, inefficiencies, and also environmental challenges by reducing vehicles on the road.
Apian’s website meanwhile states: “If a patient can have a pizza delivered in 30 minutes, why must they wait days for their lab test results or medication to arrive?”
Wing’s CFO noted that regulatory progress in the European Union and the UK “continues to open doors toward safe and beneficial drone services at scale”.
She added that this upcoming operation in south Dublin will be Wing’s second in Ireland, following a public demonstration of its services in Lusk last November.
In a blog post at the time, Wing said it chose Lusk as the location of its demonstration because of the “support and experience of the Irish Aviation Authority” and the ability to hear from a “wide range of people” in Lusk.
Nash said the “thoughtful input and the collaborative approach from the community” in Lusk provided “invaluable feedback on the future of drone delivery”.
Nash added: “Drone delivery in healthcare has a tremendous opportunity for scale, both in operational service and in benefits delivered to patients and providers.
“We’re pleased to invest in these outcomes alongside Apian.”
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