Pilot program in Bhutan could foreshadow future of using drones to improve rural medical care

Could drones be used to improve rural health care? Matternet, "a Silicon Valley startup, is piloting a low-cost,  drone-based delivery project in the remote Himalayan nation of Bhutan that could save lives in far-flung rural communities—and perhaps pioneer the system globally," Devjyot Ghoshal and Daniel A. Medina report for Quartz, part of Atlantic Media. (Matternet photo: a drone in Bhutan)

Bhutan, which has only 3 physicians for every 10,000 people, has 31 hospitals. Its 178 basic clinics and 654 outreach clinics serve a population of more than 700,000, Ghoshal and Medina write. "The challenge is to reach remote mountain communities on time and affordably. ... If pilot projects such as these work out, they could potentially lead to a massive new market for drone-based applications."

Phil Finnegan, an analyst at the Teal Group, a U.S.-based firm that analyzes the aerospace industry, told Quartz, “Essentially, we see a market of civil government and commercial in terms $5.4 billion over the next decade. It’s quite promising, in a lot of areas, not only in humanitarian areas but also in things like agriculture.” (Read more)

If the program works, drones could be used in the U.S. to "deliver needed prescriptions to consumers in rural areas," Katie Williams reports for Healthcare Dive. "And theoretically, home and remote care through drone use could benefit from the increased push for regulations easing the path for telemedicine."