What Healthcare Drones Teach Us About Supply Chain Innovation

Healthcare supply chains face unique challenges in getting supplies to remote and hard-to-reach areas, particularly due to geographical barriers, poor infrastructure, and frequent stockouts at local healthcare facilities. Traditional transportation methods can prove slow and unreliable, especially when mountainous terrain or adverse weather conditions block road access, delaying access to critical medical supplies. Drones address these challenges by providing faster and more reliable deliveries, significantly reducing response times, and ensuring a continuous supply of essential medicines and vaccines.

In Kenya, a partnership between the Elton John AIDS Foundation, Zipline, and Kisumu County has successfully used drones to deliver vital medical supplies to remote communities, dramatically cutting delivery times. A drone can cover a 12-kilometer distance in just 20 minutes—compared to up to five hours on foot or an hour by vehicle—demonstrating the life-saving potential of this technology.

Similarly, in India, in the state of Arunachal Pradesh, drones have revitalized defunct healthcare facilities and minimized environmental impact by reducing CO2 emissions without the requirement of extensive road infrastructure. While drones are often associated with military applications, their potential to enhance civilian supply chains is undeniable, especially for critical, time-sensitive deliveries.

The global civilian drone market, valued at around $24.98 billion in 2023, is projected to reach $65.49 billion by 2030. India’s civilian drone market, worth approximately $1.2 billion in 2023, is expected to grow to $4.87 billion by 2030. While supply chain professionals understand the costs and service implications of traditional modes of transportation, recent research reveals the primary barrier to broader drone adoption is the ambiguity around the financial implications of drone operations (Garg et al., in Drones in last-mile delivery: A systematic review on efficiency, accessibility, and sustainability, Transportation Research Part D: Transport and Environment).

Due to the industry’s nascent and innovative nature, more needs to be known about implementing drones into supply chains and the challenges and best practices related to this process.

Visit SCMR.com to view the full story.

Read More