Nkhata Bay District Health Office(DHO) has adopted a cargo drone programme to aid delivery of medical drugs to health facilities in remote areas of the district.
Building on a successful pilot programme conducted in 2018-2019 by the Malawi Government and Village Reach, Christopher Singini, Principal Health Promotion Officer for Nkhata Bay DHO, said the initiative aims to enhance health service delivery and address mobility challenges.
“The drone will be carrying small products like samples from health facilities for analysis, medical drugs and vaccines that can only be stored at the DHO among others. This will ease our work and we are thankful for the initiative”, he said.
According to Singini, so far, the cargo drone has started offering services in four health facilities; Tchesamu, Chilambwe, Chikwina and Khondowe in Nkhata Bay.
In a related development, Rumphi District Council on Thursday approved the introduction of the Malawi Drone Medical Delivery Programme by Village Reach in the district, which is funded by USAID’s Development Innovation Ventures.
“Emergency cases needing emergency commodities will be taken care of better and faster than before hence saving lives that could have been lost due to unavailability of emergency commodities at critical moments,” said Dr Arnold Jumbe, the Director of Health and Social Services for Rumphi District Council.
By Chisomo Kambandanga and Manasse Nyirenda, MANA
