Following successful approvals and a right-to-fly certification from the Civil Aviation Authorities in Nigeria, Zipline has commenced commercial deliveries of essential medical products to health facilities in the Cross River State.
The development makes Cross River State the second state in Nigeria after Kaduna State to go commercial with the use of Zipline drone technology.
Also, many health officials especially those at the Maternal and Child Health Clinic (MCH), recipients of the very first delivery of a medical product from the Ndok distribution center of Zipline, were excited to learn that the challenge of accessing medical products for their clients have been made easy.
Godwin Ipuole, the health officer-in-charge of the Primary Health Center in Ibil-Ogoja, expressed appreciation to the State Government for the bold decision to use technology to remove the barriers many far-to-reach communities like Ibil, were facing in the course of doing their work.
“Vaccine stock-outs have been a huge challenge to us. Our inability to always meet the health needs of our clients on the grounds of the non-availability of essential medicines lowers our motivation. We have no doubt that with such a transformative technology, our primary challenge of access to medical supplies will be a thing of the past,” he said.
Speaking after leading all the 18 LGA Primary Health Care Directors on a tour of the Zipline facility in Ogoja, Abasioffiong Offiong, the director-general of the Cross River State Primary Health Care Development Agency, said the decision to partner with Zipline was to support the efforts of the State in achieving universal health coverage.
She expressed hope that the technology will play a key role in the overall healthcare delivery within the State.
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“It is our expectation that all medical commodities to all the primary healthcare agencies within the various local governments will be sourced from Zipline. With the degree of efficiency that Zipline puts into their work, we anticipate that all essential medicines requested will be delivered timely and within the right conditions. This is an opportunity for us as a State to improve the overall universal health delivery project we have committed to,” she said.
According to the memorandum of understanding with the Cross River State Government, Zipline is expected to build and operate two distribution centers from where they will store essential medicines and vaccines.
While health workers are expected to order the products using text messages or calls after which they will promptly receive their deliveries when and where they need them in 30 minutes on average.
Catherine Odiase, general manager of Zipline Nigeria, said Zipline is indebted to the State Government and all the state agencies that worked tirelessly to get the company the required certification for the commencement of commercial deliveries in Cross River State.
“Our technology is proven to be one of choice for the last mile delivery. By this partnership with the Cross River State, we should begin to see significant improvements in the delivery of essential medicines and vaccines to health facilities within our operational area,” said Catherine Odiase, general manager of Zipline Nigeria.
Zipline drones fly autonomously and can carry three kilos of cargo, cruising at 110 kilometers an hour, and have a round trip range of 220 kilometers – even in high-speed winds and rain.
Deliveries are made from the sky, with the drone descending to a safe height above the ground and releasing a box of medicine by parachute to a designated spot at the health centers and community delivery points it serves.
The company operates on three continents delivering packages on behalf of businesses and governments. To date, Zipline has delivered more than 500,000 packages, and more than 5 million products, and flown more than 40 million autonomous miles – 20 times the amount that the world’s largest autonomous vehicle company has completed.
