Healthcare Delivery in the Era of IR4.0: The Rise of the Drone

The advent of the drones began with unmanned balloons in the eighteenth century, but the uptake into healthcare delivery was as recent as 2014. A systematic review in 2020 produced only three publications involving drones in blood samples delivery. Since then, there has been an exponential increase in research and publications on the medical drone, particularly for healthcare service delivery. Two economic analyses comparing medical drone transportation to motorcycles and to ambulances respectively, revealed rather contrasting outcomes. Local legislation varies among countries, posing a formidable obstacle to conducting on site research into drone flights for healthcare delivery. Differences in climate and topography make it impossible to extrapolate the drone’s capability from one geographical location to another, hence the importance of local experience and studies. From the technical point of view, several outstanding issues need to be solved before the drone can take to the skies much more effectively in its role in healthcare service delivery. Topping the list are the cost of drone acquisition, the capacity to monitor autonomous drone flights beyond visual line of sight versus the local network coverage, the drone’s power source versus its capacity to fly long distances, its navigation accuracy, and climate challenges.