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John R. Fischer, Senior Reporter | February 09, 2022
"We will definitely see more partnerships of this kind over the next few years in U.S. healthcare because the industry is starting to realize that drone deliveries yield a tremendous potential, especially in terms of efficiency and healthcare access for underserved communities," said Wimberley. "In collaboration with Spright, Wingcopter will help define the medical industry's standards for not only the delivery of high-value medical supplies, but also the entire chain of custody for handling medical supplies in compliance with both aviation and medical regulations."
CVS teamed up with UPS in 2019 to
deliver prescription drugs via drone transport to consumer doors. The collaboration followed a similar partnership between FedEx and Walgreens and the introduction of Amazon’s Prime Air. UPS had been experimenting with drone delivery since 2016.
In 2020, Novant Health
incorporated Zipline's drones into its COVID-19 pandemic response to deliver PPE and other medical supplies to its frontline workers in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Drones are also playing a role in the delivery of actual medical devices in emergency situations. A man in Sweden, back in December, survived cardiac arrest at his home thanks to a drone that was used to
deliver a defibrillator. Its delivery was made possible through an AED drone delivery program set up for situations like this.
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