Medical Drones Will Thrive in Healthcare: A Safe Road to Health
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According to my geek calendar, 2017 will be the year of the drone. These advanced versions of model airplanes or unmanned aerial vehicles are everywhere on the rise. According to the estimates of the Consumer Technology Association, 9.4 million units were projected to be sold in 2016 worldwide; and the number will soar in 2017. The use of drones in aerial photography or monitoring seems pretty obvious, but some fans are already organizing drone races and a less fortunate guy caught her cheating wife with it. But it was certainly Amazon, which generated the biggest buzz last year by its announcement about delivering goods by drones; and that it actually delivered the first packages with popcorn and fire TV to its customers in the UK in December. And it’s not a surprise it was not in the US or China.
Future of Delivery - Medical Drones
What if cakes or books will fall from the sky?
In 2014, when a Minnesota brewery decided to use a drone to fly beer to ice fishers out on a frozen lake, the US authorities stepped in some days later due to safety concerns and violations of aviation codes. Something similar happened a year earlier in China, but instead of beer, the flying objects involved some cakes and pies. A bakery in Shanghai decided to fly the sweet delicacies to their customers, but the local aviation authorities grounded the drones due to lack of permits and safety issues.
Although regulators are catching up with drone technology, there are many concerns. The biggest issue is that drones or their packages could fall on passers-by. They could collide with aircraft, or according to The New York Times, slow down rescue operations. Drones capturing aerial footage of wildfires have hindered efforts by helicopter and airplane pilots to put out blazes. There are also concerns about use of drones to violate privacy and to smuggle weapons or drugs into prisons.
It is obvious that law-makers have to craft appropriate, drone-related regulations as soon as possible, ideally before the wider spread of drones, especially those delivering lifesaving drugs or medical objects.
We have a situation here, please, send us the drone aid!
Drones have great potential in making the transport of drugs, vaccines or medical aids faster. They are able to help in circumstances when time is crucial; e.g. in situations requiring urgent responses, during disasters or medical emergencies. Google, the tech giant with a significant medical portfolio, patented a device that can call for a drone in emergency situations to fly in with life-saving medical equipment on board. You would push a button, and a drone would appear on the spot. How amazing would that sound? And what about drones deliver automatic external defibrillators (AEDs) directly to people who have just suffered a heart attack? Researchers from the University of Toronto are already experimenting with the idea based on their inspiration from ambulance drones in the Netherlands.
But drones might not only be useful when urgent relief is necessary, but when ambulances are out of reach – e.g. due to bad road conditions or remote areas. It might also be the case when ambulances need urgent access to certain rare drugs or blood supplies. Here are the most common examples of drone-use in medicine and healthcare.
Drones eagerly respond to disasters
One of the earliest medical utilization of these unmanned aerial vehicles were in catastrophes. Various drones successfully delivered small aid packages after the Haitian earthquake in 2012. They were also able to help in humanitarian operations for collecting data and imagery where infrastructure was destroyed or already lacking; including in the Philippines after Typhoon Haiyan in 2013. This year, after the Obama administration somewhat eased the use of small drones by real estate agents, farmers, filmmakers and countless other commercial operators, experts tested drones in New Jersey for disaster response. In December, two disaster drones delivered telemedical packages to victims and rescue personnel in a simulated mass casualty event at an airport in Mississippi. I believe that within the next 3-5 years, technology and regulation will allow for the development of a more effective disaster response with the help of these small and agile helpers.
Disaster Relief Drones - Medical Drones
Delivering vaccines to the jungles
Disruptive health technologies might save millions of lives in the developing world since they are creative, reliable, easy-to-use and cheap. Just as drone delivery. A research published in 2016 led by the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and the Pittsburgh Supercomputing Centre suggests the same. It also adds that using drones might also improve vaccination rates.