Company Claims Drones Can Deliver Various Medical Supplies
History was made on Wednesday when a drone from Thunder Bay delivered medication in under 40 minutes to a patient living 30 kilometers away from their pharmacy in a remote area.
The test flight, coordinated by Toronto-based Script Runner, is claimed to be the first of its kind in Canada and launched from the Oak Medical Arts pharmacy in the Fort William Clinic lot.
Robyn Despins, executive director of Oak Medical Arts, highlighted that the community’s access to healthcare needs and medications is often hindered by long distances.
“In Northern Ontario, there are people every day that are sick or at home with young kids, people who have mobility issues, and people who are really not feeling well and it’s just not possible for them to come in to get the prescription or the health care that they need,” Despins said.
“If this moves forward, the future of what this looks like for drone-delivered prescriptions is very necessary, not only in rural places in Northern Ontario but across the world.”
The drone delivery system operates similarly to traditional car deliveries she added.
Adam Plummer, Script Runner co-founder and head of operations, stated that their AI-powered drone delivery service introduces new opportunities for fast and efficient deliveries to remote areas.
Plummer mentioned that they can currently deliver a wide variety of medications but declined to discuss the security aspects of the project, which are still under development. He also noted that the funding details for the pilot program are confidential.
“We can deal with the logistics of deliveries and make sure that the customer has access to medications, and at the end of the day, it increases the quality of life for the patients,” he said.
