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There is no doubt that medical technology has played a huge role in the healthcare system. With each passing decade, we grow more technologically advanced and we come up with innovative ideas that improve our quality of life.
Recently, I came across a Ted Talk titled "How we're using drones to deliver blood and save lives" by Keller Rinaudo. By now, I'm sure you know that I enjoy watching Ted Talks and for this one in particular, I was impressed as to how far we've come when it comes to merging technology + medicine. First things first, drones have been around for decades, as our military uses them for surveillance and target killings. It seems as though for the past decade or so, drones have becoming more socially popular- particularly when used as video recording devices.
In 2014, Keller Rinaudo created a company called ZipLine- a company that uses electric autonomous aircraft to deliver medicine to hospitals and health centers. Not only that, he launched the world's first automated delivery system, and all of this started in Africa. Yes, Africa, you read that right. To us, it's surprising to think something of this scale was created in Africa, knowing that Africa has its fair share of problems when it comes to access to hospitals, lack of resources, poverty, among other things. Storing blood comes with challenges as blood has a very short life, there are storing requirements and as Keller said- it is hard to predict the demand for each blood group. By using this technology, Rwanda has been able to keep the blood centralized and in the event that a patient needs it, they're able to get access within a span of 20-30 minutes. The way it works is that through Whatsapp, a hospital can specify which blood they need and using blood delivered from the National Center for Blood Transfusion, the distribution center packs the blood into a Zip and they have the ability to accelerate it from zero to 100 kilometers an hour in about half of a second. They're delivering about 20% of the national blood supply in Rwanda outside of Kigali and they supply blood to about 12 hospitals, adding more as they expand. What is remarkable about this technology is that they are able to reduce waste by using all of the blood and supplies they have delivered- as opposed to stocking up in the event of an emergency. When you stock up ahead in advance, especially with supplies that have a short life span, you're essentially throwing away lots of money when it goes to waste. Although the use of blood products has increase substantially at all the hospitals we serve, in the last nine months, zero units of blood have expired at any of these hospitals (Rinaudo, 2017). He mentions that this has not been achieved by any other health care system in the world. This achievement goes to show that countries like Africa do have the ability to be just as technology advanced and they don't always need help just by providing aid or services. Through this innovative techology, millions of people in Africa can gain a better quality of life.
Rinaudo, K. (2017 November). How we're using drones to deliver blood and save lives. Retrieved from https://www.ted.com/talks/keller_rinaudo_how_we_re_using_drones_to_deliver_blood_and_save_lives/transcript#t-162789
Recently, I came across a Ted Talk titled "How we're using drones to deliver blood and save lives" by Keller Rinaudo. By now, I'm sure you know that I enjoy watching Ted Talks and for this one in particular, I was impressed as to how far we've come when it comes to merging technology + medicine. First things first, drones have been around for decades, as our military uses them for surveillance and target killings. It seems as though for the past decade or so, drones have becoming more socially popular- particularly when used as video recording devices.
In 2014, Keller Rinaudo created a company called ZipLine- a company that uses electric autonomous aircraft to deliver medicine to hospitals and health centers. Not only that, he launched the world's first automated delivery system, and all of this started in Africa. Yes, Africa, you read that right. To us, it's surprising to think something of this scale was created in Africa, knowing that Africa has its fair share of problems when it comes to access to hospitals, lack of resources, poverty, among other things. Storing blood comes with challenges as blood has a very short life, there are storing requirements and as Keller said- it is hard to predict the demand for each blood group. By using this technology, Rwanda has been able to keep the blood centralized and in the event that a patient needs it, they're able to get access within a span of 20-30 minutes. The way it works is that through Whatsapp, a hospital can specify which blood they need and using blood delivered from the National Center for Blood Transfusion, the distribution center packs the blood into a Zip and they have the ability to accelerate it from zero to 100 kilometers an hour in about half of a second. They're delivering about 20% of the national blood supply in Rwanda outside of Kigali and they supply blood to about 12 hospitals, adding more as they expand. What is remarkable about this technology is that they are able to reduce waste by using all of the blood and supplies they have delivered- as opposed to stocking up in the event of an emergency. When you stock up ahead in advance, especially with supplies that have a short life span, you're essentially throwing away lots of money when it goes to waste. Although the use of blood products has increase substantially at all the hospitals we serve, in the last nine months, zero units of blood have expired at any of these hospitals (Rinaudo, 2017). He mentions that this has not been achieved by any other health care system in the world. This achievement goes to show that countries like Africa do have the ability to be just as technology advanced and they don't always need help just by providing aid or services. Through this innovative techology, millions of people in Africa can gain a better quality of life.
Rinaudo, K. (2017 November). How we're using drones to deliver blood and save lives. Retrieved from https://www.ted.com/talks/keller_rinaudo_how_we_re_using_drones_to_deliver_blood_and_save_lives/transcript#t-162789
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