The Zipline Medical Drone Delivery Project which delivers medical supplies via drones is nearing nationwide coverage as 13 out of the 16 regions are beneficiaries.
Currently, about 2,300 health facilities in 147 districts are benefiting from the project which ensures rural and hard to reach communities get prompt and quality medical supplies.
This came to light when the Vice President of Ghana, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia inaugurated two new Zipline Medical Drone Distribution Centres located at Anum in the Eastern Region and Kete Krachi in the Oti Region.
The two centers which started work in December 2021 are serving about 250 health facilities and thousands of residents in three regions; 70 percent of Volta, 95 percent of Oti, and communities along the Volta Lake and Afram Plains in the Eastern Regions.
Currently, close to 200,000 units of critical medical products from the Anum and Kete Krachi sites have already been distributed since operations commenced in December last year.
In April 2019, President Akufo-Addo announced the opening of the first center at Omenako in the Eastern region. The success of the project led to the opening of three more centres at Mpanya in the Ashanti region, Sefwi Wiawso in the Western North region, and Vobsi near Walewale in the North-East region. The two new additions bring the number of centres to six.
Speaking at Nyagbo Sroe in the Afadjato South District of the Volta Region where a commemorative drone delivery was received, the Vice President observed that the project has proved skeptics and critics wrong. From a single distribution centre to five more distribution centres, the project has delivered medical supplies to over 2000 health facilities and saved millions of lives. Some of them are blood, anti-snake venom, vaccines, and PPEs.
He said out of the total deliveries, “close to 1 million COVID-19 vaccines, as well as 4 million routine vaccines, have so far been distributed by Zipline,” a key intervention in the fight against COVID-19. Considering that Ghana is the only country in the world to use drones to deliver COVID-19 vaccines; many lives have been saved. As of Monday, March 21, 222, only 79 cases had been recorded, he noted.
He said Ghana was chosen as one of five African countries to receive Pfizer vaccine due to the storage facilities of the Zipline centres; which can keep supplies at the required temperature levels and prevent expiry.
Dr. Bawumia observed that apart from COVID-19, the project is a giant step towards the overall improvement of healthcare delivery in the country. No wonder, Nyagbo Sroe which is about 750 meters above sea level and further away from urban cities was specifically chosen to demonstrate the equitable distribution of medical supplies to all parts of the country irrespective of location.
The Vice President cautioned the citizens against politicization of health issues since improving life expectancy and ensuring a healthy workforce to drive economic growth, development, and prosperity requires a lot of health investments instead.
The General Manager of Zipline Ghana, Madam Naa Yawson, noted that since the first distribution center in April 2019, over 1.7 million medical commodities have been distributed to over 2300 health facilities across 147 districts in 13 regions. About 60 percent of these health facilities are health centres and CHPS compounds located in rural and hard-to-reach areas.
Torgbe Owusu, representing the Paramount Chief of the Nyagbo Traditional Area, Torgbe Ashui Nyagasi V, thanked the government for such a life-saving project for many rural communities but emphasized that the roads; Eastern Corridor and adjoining roads to Nyagbo needed to be completed to improve lives of the people.
From Fred Duodu, Nyagbo Sroe (k.duodu@yahoo.com)