The development is aligned with the firm’s commitment to continue rendering improved health services.

Joseph Ndagijimana, Zipline Rwanda General Manager has told IGIHE that the program will draw emphasis on patients with chronic diseases.

“We are planning to deploy drones to patients’ homes in real-time. There are patients with chronic diseases like Diabetis, or Cancer taking medicaments every day and are aware of prescribed drugs without need to consult the medical doctor every day. We are developing a program in collaboration with Partners in Health so that we can start deploying drones to deliver drugs to some of these patients with difficulties to pick medications at hospitals,” he said.

Ndagijimana explained that the program might start in the next two months.

“We have started applying for licensing from Civil Aviation Authority and expect to start delivery in the next two months,” he noted.

It is said the development is meant to reduce exhausting treks that patients would make to reach hospitals.

Ndagijimana has assured that Zipline continues to introduce more innovative programs to improve health services.

“We continue to draw emphasis on health sector to transform people’s lives which aligns with our mandate,” he revealed.

It is said that patients might pay for delivery cost or have the service integrated into health insurances for subsidized cost.

Zipline started operations in Rwanda in 2016. It has two distribution centers based in Kayonza district, Eastern Province and Muhanga district in Southern Province.

Zipline distributes blood to 260 health centers.

Zipline, a drone firm delivering blood supplies to hospitals has unveiled plans to start delivering drugs to patients’ homes across Rwanda.