In recent years, drones have been used to perform various tasks beyond just using them to take pictures or record videos. Currently these devices have drawn a lot of attention for the role they have played in the war between the nations of Ukraine and Russia. However, in a department of Uruguay, drones have become a vital tool for people. In the state hospital in the department of Tacuarembó, these unmanned and remote-controlled aircraft are used to transport medicines, blood samples, biological materials, medical supplies and even breast milk.
Tacuarembó is the largest department and is located in the center of the South American country. It has a territorial extension of 15,000 km2, its size and topography is full of rivers and plateaus which generate a great challenge for the transfer of people or supplies. This type of challenge is what the Tacuarembó Hospital project aims to solve. According to the director of the hospital, Ciro Ferreira, the project, which is “a pioneer in Latin America”, is beginning to use a drone with a 3-meter wingspan, a cargo capacity of 15 liters and a range of 100 kilometers, to carry breast milk from small towns such as Tambores, Villa Ansina or Villa Curtina to the departmental capital. Likewise, it intends to transfer blood samples, vascular resuscitation equipment, serums and medicines.
According to Ferreira, this project helps reduce travel time by more than a third. Because there are diseases that depend to a large extent on the time and speed of the transfer to treat them and save the life of the patient who suffers from it. In addition, according to the promoters of the project, this initiative reduces the emission of carbon footprints by 95%. Ferreira declared that “The implemented strategy allows us to bring the territories closer, provide improvements in health needs, reduce diagnosis and treatment times for residents located in rural areas, without the need to transfer to the hospital.”
The drone project began operations in mid-July. The drone has been used mainly for the transfer of pasteurized human milk to and from the breast milk bank that is located in the state hospital. This with the aim that it can be used for babies who are hospitalized in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit and for mothers who need it in remote areas. The Spanish-Uruguayan company Cielum together with Unicef, the Faculty of Engineering of the University of the Republic of Uruguay and the National Directorate of Civil Aviation are the entities in charge of financing the project.
