An international logistics company, Zipline, has said it uses drones to distribute medical products to hard to reach facilities in the state in order to save lives.
This was disclosed at a media tour at its operations base in Pambegua, Kubau local government area of Kaduna State where the company’s operations manager, Pharm. Samuel Timothy Noma, said the presence of the company in the state had reduced maternal and infant mortality in rural communities.
The state government in February 2021 signed an MoU with Zipline as part of its efforts to address challenges associated with logistics and delivery of medical supplies to hard-to- reach communities.
According to the operations manager, Zipline receives medical supplies from the Kaduna State Health Supplies Management Agency at their warehouse for proper inspection, scanning and labelling with an identification name and expiry dates.
Pharm. Noma noted that Kaduna State is the first distribution centre, adding that they commenced full operations in 2022.
“We are distributing life saving products to hard to reach communities across 12 LGAs, which cut across 291 facilities. We serve over 1,000 facilities in the country,” he said.
Noma said Zipline since inception in June 2022 had delivered more than 10,000 essential medicines and vaccines to hard-to-reach areas in the state within 45 minutes of order.
The head of flight operations, Jeremiah Dunah, said the drone can carry 2kg drugs at once but they restrict it to 1.75kg.
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