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Abu Dhabi's Department of Health (DOH) announced on 21 September that the emirate will use drones supplied by SkyGo Logistics to distribute and transfer medical supplies within its healthcare network starting 2022.

The project is a collaboration between DoH, the General Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA), SkyGo and aerial delivery service provider Matternet.

According to the official statement from DOH, "the delivery and transfer system will have around the clock service".

The announcement came just days after Abu Dhabi-based Ethmar Holdings shared that it was establishing SkyGo as a joint venture partnership with Apex Al Wataniya Logistics and robotics firm Averro Technology. SkyGo is the first company to have a license in the UAE for BVLOS (Beyond Visual Line Of Sight) commercial drone delivery operations.

Drones will be used to deliver medical supplies, medicine and blood units, vaccines and samples between laboratories, pharmacies, blood banks across healthcare facilities around 40 stations in the city.

This is said to help emergencies and contribute to reducing occupancy rates in healthcare facilities as well as enhance the quality of patient outcomes.

The DOH said SkyGo and Matternet have completed phase one of testing and are now working on phase two, which will be finalised by the end of 2021 and will address aviation safety requirement and risk assessments.

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