Zipline medical deliveries for Ghana meet resistance

Gary Mortimer

On Tuesday the Ghanian government approved a $12.5 million deal with Zipline to roll out their medical delivery service in the country. The company will build four nodes all staffed by Ghanaians. The first will be at Suhum in Eastern Ghana. Operating 24/7 the nodes will cost the Government $88,000 a month and the current contract is to run for four years.

Zipline guarantees 150 flights per day. The four centres then making 600 flights a day. I wonder how much the weather comes into play, that seems like a big number.

There has been resistance, on Wednesday The Ghana Medical Association called for the suspension of the deal.

“The government should suspend the planned implementation of this system immediately. Broader stakeholder consultations on the use of this autonomous remotely piloted aircraft system (drones) in the healthcare delivery in the country should be conducted to decide the way forward.

Health should not be politicized and that the health of Ghanaians is critical

The GMA is not against the use of technology to improve healthcare in the country. However, every single intervention proposed in this direction should not be seen as a panacea to solving our healthcare problems, but rather as an augmentation to existing efforts.

The proposed services to be provided by the drones do not conform to the existing primary healthcare policy in Ghana, where different levels of care have different capacities to perform specific functions.”