Government is considering expanding the use of drones to transport medical supplies to hard-to-reach communities, particularly in Kalangala District, where operating boat ambulances can cost millions of shillings in fuel each day.
Dr Charles Ayume, the State Minister for Health in charge of Primary Health Care, said drone technology could reduce the cost and time required to deliver essential medical supplies to health facilities scattered across the district’s numerous islands.
Ayume said the government plans to begin by transporting HIV testing kits and other medical consumables before expanding the service to include blood products needed to manage emergencies involving mothers and children.
“Blood is very important in the community. We need to be able to deploy blood for reproductive, maternal and child health cases,” Ayume said.
Kalangala District comprises about 84 islands, making access to healthcare a logistical challenge, particularly for patients requiring urgent medical attention.
Ayume highlighted the high cost of operating boat ambulances, noting that a single journey between the islands and the mainland can consume approximately 300 litres of fuel.
He said repeated emergency referrals involving children with anaemia, accident victims and mothers experiencing obstructed labour could push daily fuel expenditure to nearly Shs8 million.
The minister said the government’s long-term plan is to strengthen healthcare services within the islands by equipping health facilities with X-ray machines, establishing blood banks and ensuring adequate staffing.
However, where facilities lack specific medical supplies, drones could offer a faster and potentially cheaper way of delivering them.
“Our plan should not be bringing people to Kalangala. We should be building capacity on Kalangala and deploying consumables and blood,” he said.
Ayume said the Ministry of Health would conduct cost-benefit analyses to establish the financial viability of the technology and present its findings to Parliament’s Health Committee for consideration in developing an appropriate policy framework.
He added that the drones would operate on rechargeable batteries, with charging points established at designated locations to reduce dependence on fuel-powered transport.
However, the minister cautioned that drone operations would require regulatory approval and compliance with established procedures before deployment.
He said operators must obtain clearance from the relevant supervisory authorities, the Civil Aviation Authority and the UPDF Air Force. Guidelines would also govern the importation and use of the equipment.
Initial operations are expected to take place during daylight hours, with flight durations estimated at between one hour and one and a half hours, depending on the route and other operating conditions.
Ayume said the idea of using technology to transport medical samples dates back several years.
He recalled that Uganda began exploring ways to transport laboratory samples from remote areas in 2011, initially relying on motorcycles and buses to deliver them to the Central Public Health Laboratories.
The proposed drone system would build on those efforts by improving the transportation of medical supplies and potentially reducing delays in delivering essential healthcare services to remote communities.
Dr Charles Kiyaga, Programmes Director at the National Health Laboratory and Diagnostic Services (NHLDS), said drones would help address longstanding challenges in transporting samples from areas where conventional methods are expensive or inefficient.
“We are happy that the day has come that we can fly a drone from here to Kalangala, or it can move to quite a number of places depending on how you want to move,” Kiyaga said.
He said the initiative followed years of efforts to improve Uganda’s sample transportation network, particularly in areas with difficult geographical terrain.
Uganda established its National Sample Transport System in 2011 with 19 hubs, mainly at regional referral hospitals and selected district hospitals. The network has since expanded to 100 hubs, connecting approximately 3,000 lower-level health facilities across the country.
Kiyaga said the network provides more than 95 per cent national coverage but continues to face challenges in reaching some communities, particularly those located on islands.
He said the government and its partners began exploring drone technology in 2015, but earlier attempts stalled because some proposed solutions involved drones with limited flight ranges.
“We want a drone that can move from here to Kalangala and back,” he said, adding that preparations for the latest system had been ongoing for nearly four years.
According to Kiyaga, the operation had secured the necessary approvals from aviation, security and other regulatory agencies to conduct flights beyond the operator’s visual line of sight.
During the launch, the drones transported medical supplies and samples, including 100 HIV viral load testing kits and 550 dried blood spot (DBS) bundles destined for Kalangala.
Kiyaga said another flight was returning with 256 samples collected from a health facility, demonstrating the system’s potential to deliver medical supplies and retrieve specimens more quickly.
The initiative is expected to improve access to essential medical supplies, strengthen laboratory sample transportation and support emergency healthcare services in island communities, subject to the outcome of the government’s cost-benefit assessment and the implementation of the necessary regulatory framework.