China launches drone service for medicine delivery
For the first time in China, the unmanned aerial vehicle has been used to deliver medicines to a remote mountain village Atuleer in South-Western Sichuan province, reports Chinese media.
The country's first medical drones is the brainchild of a joint project of the largest e-Commerce company JD and the China Siyuan Foundation for Poverty Alleviation.
The village, which has a population of 500 residents, is located on top of the over 1400-metre high cliff. A year ago, Atuleer became famous in the media by the bravery and courage of its villagers, who have to overcome dangerous vertical climb to go in or out the village.
Despite the fact that last year the village was equipped with a new steel ladder, the road for buying essentials and necessary medicines takes 6-9 hours. From now on, the drone delivers the medical supplies for 10 minutes.
To date, the opportunities of using UAV-couriers to transport medical parcels to hard-to-reach territories have been already tested in the USA, Switzerland, Rwanda, Malawi and Australia.
