October 16, (THEWILL) – The Cross River State Government and Zipline, a logistics firm, have delivered at least 683,643 units of drugs across health facilities in the State using drone technology.
The benefiting health facilities are spread across 475 primary health centres in the Northern and parts of the Central Senatorial Districts of the State.
Joseph Eyamba, the fulfillment operation lead of Zipline, disclosed this in Ndok, Ogoja during a facility tour of the company by the Cross River State Health Commissioner, Dr. Egbe Ayuk.
He said the drone technology deployed by the firm has helped bridge the gap in drug accessibility and where it takes four hours to drive to a facility, Zipline gets there in 40 to 50 minutes.
He listed the deliveries by Zipline to include RI Vaccines and consumables, program medicines (packs), essential medicines, COVID-19 vaccines as well as over 12,000 doses of cholera vaccines.
Also speaking, Nobert Ogar, the Community Lead, said that through their innovative technology, they can fly and deliver vaccines to hard-to-reach communities when they need them.
He added that their intervention has saved lives and has also paid off because drugs can be accessed across the State.
On his part, Hilary Owoedimo, the State Team Lead/Health Systems Integration Lead, said besides Cross River State, Zipline operates in Bayelsa and Kaduna States and they have the capability of covering thirteen million people.
He added that the Ndok distribution centre of Zipline has the capacity to house 1.5 million doses of vaccines.
Responding, Cross River State Health Commissioner, Dr. Egbe Ayuk, described the technology as a wonderful scientific innovation that should be encouraged in many areas.
He added that in a State like Cross River where there are hard-to-reach areas, there is no other method that can address drug delivery other than this approach and should be encouraged.
Zipline is a logistics system that offers warehouse and inventory management as well as end-to-end supply chain solutions.
THEWILL Correspondent, Aniekan Bassey has over six years experience that spans across several fields in print journalism including development communication, sexual reproductive and health rights issues, crime, climate change, social justice, business and human interest stories.
