Drone technology enters SL's medical healthcare service
Drone technology enters Sri Lanka's Health Service this week, with drones being used as a principal means of transport when distributing medicines and equipment to medical officers in emergency situations
Discussions on the use of this facility commenced following problems faced by medical officers in obtaining medicines and medical equipment at locations where road transport is difficult .
Colombo National Hospital Heart Disease expert Dr. Gotabhaya Ranasinghe emphasised, the new technology used in emergency health care practices will be a deciding factor in treatment in crisis situations.
The tragic Easter Sunday attacks are seen as a crucial moment in the country’s recent history, where the administering of medicines to large numbers of people affected in the attacks were hampered by the difficulty in obtaining sufficient quantities of medicine via traditional means of transport.
“The network of roads has not always helped to reach the critical sites where medical care was needed within a short period of time,” Dr. Ranasinghe said .
He said in circumstances where patients cannot be transported to hospital for treatment, this system will facilitate health officers to stabilise victims on site.
Dr. Ranasinghe explained that transport of medicines and equipment speedily, to areas of need would minimise the risk to lives of patients.
He added, necessary equipment at an emergency site could be supplied in a short space of time by communication and the use of drones to get what the doctor or the health care officer needed at a time of crisis.
“The hospitals are not always able to supply the necessary equipment ranging from blood and injections in the shortest possible time to difficult areas," he said. He added the new technology would be a positive factor to set up mobile theaters with facilities for medical care.”
Dr. Ranasinghe said the technology would help overcome difficulties caused by traffic congestion and unavailability of medical care at the crisis spots which could result in deaths, especially of patients suffering from heart ailments.
He said the usefulness of drone technology in helping ease crisis situations in Rwanda and Uganda ,where large numbers had to be treated at distant locations proved their usefulness.
He explained that this system would enable a payload of around 2 kg of medical drugs to be moved form one location to another with extreme accuracy at speeds of around 100 km per hour.
He said the present application of the technology for screening the behaviour of elephants in jungles could be applied to health care treatment in times of crisis.
“The problem of the distance between the medical supplies and the spot for treatment can be minimised by this technology in health care” he emphasised.