Israeli Hospital Launches Drone Delivery Of Medicine, Blood Tests

Ziv Medical Center in Safed (Tzfat) is the first Israeli hospital to begin transporting medical tests, medicines, blood and equipment by drone.

Initially, destinations are in the 5- to 10-kilometer (3-6 mile) range, which includes the center’s satellite hospital in the center of the city.

If the 100-day testing period is successful, the drone routes will be extended to a range of more than 200 kilometers (124 miles) of Ziv, which is in the Upper Galilee.

This longer route would facilitate the transfer of special medications, donated blood or other vital cargo between Ziv in the Upper Galilee and other hospitals throughout Israel in half the time than the trip takes by road.

The GPS-guided drones operated by Simplex Autonomous Systems of Herzliya will bypass traffic jams and other glitches common to ground transportation, and exposes fewer staff members to infectious materials, said the medical center’s Director General Dr. Salman Zarka.

The drone project launched on October 18 with the cooperation of the Ministry of Transportation, Civil Aviation Authority, the Alternative Fuels Administration of the Prime Minister’s Office, the Israel Innovation Authority and Netivei Ayalon alternative urban transportation company.

Another possible use of the drones would be to send medical equipment quickly to IDF bases in the North.