SANBS to deliver blood using drones
The South African Blood Services (SANBS) has come up with a plan to deliver emergency blood to hospitals by drone.
SANBS CEO Jonathan Louw says even though they have 185 sites countrywide, they still battle to get blood to every patient in need, particularly in rural areas.
"It's very difficult when somebody is haemorrhaging to get to them in the golden hour - and the golden hour is what we refer to as the time where you really need to have a blood transfusion otherwise there's very severe consequences.
"So the drone project was borne out of trying to get to these young ladies and these people who just do not have access to emergency blood to try to find a way to get to them quickly."
Louw says the drone is able to deliver the universal blood, type-o negative, but can also take the patient’s blood sample to SANBS lab to find the perfect match.
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Louw says a series of test runs will start as soon as the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) grants them the necessary license.
"Now that we have bought the drones into the country we are able to start the registration process of the aircraft with CAA. As the SANBS have been in talks with the CAA and we've made applications since last year but now it’s a case of them having to scrutinise vehicle, see that it’s fit for purpose and it’s very important that they do this.
"We're going to be working with them very closely to make sure we can bring this into use as soon possible. Obviously the sooner we can do this the sooner we can save lives."
The drone can either be controlled by a pilot or fly autonomously, can carry up to four units of blood and be able to glide to the ground in an emergency or deploy a parachute if necessary.
A single trip by drone costs the service only R10.
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