First drone to delivered blood is coming to Vereeniging
Hettie Fowlds
VEREENIGING – On Wednesday, May 29, the South African National Blood Service (SANBS) launched the first TRON Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) with its vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) fixed wing system to deliver blood for use in emergency situations in remote areas.
Vereeniging and Sebokeng are some of the first areas in the country where the drone will be tested. The Tron UAV, which has the ability to take off like a helicopter, flies like a plane and lands like a helicopter, is developed by a German company called Quantum Systems. “We believe that this is an innovative step in the history of blood transfusion. The SANBS is determined to improve rapid access to life-saving blood products in rural areas through the use of drone technology. Our concept is globally unique in that we will provide two-way logistics: patients can receive emergency “O negative” blood from one of our blood banks via drone. The same drone can then take that patient’s blood sample to the blood bank for comprehensive cross-matching and then safely and rapidly deliver compatible blood back to the patient,” says Dr Jonathan Louw, CEO of SANBS.
He stated that the idea was born out of a discussion with the Department of Health on how to improve blood supply to remote areas in a way to reduce the mortality rate of patients in need of blood. Louw listed the criteria that had to be met during the research and design process: