Kigali, 14 October 2016 – President Paul Kagame has called on Rwandans to not be satisfied by what is deemed “good enough”, but instead always strive for the best. The President made the remarks in Muhanga District, Southern Province after unveiling a milestone project of medical deliveries operated by drones.

The project, completed under the partnership of the Government of Rwanda and an American drone operator company – Zipline, Inc., aims to reduce the average delivery time of life-saving blood products across health facilities. It will also help curb the wastage of some blood products that have a very limited shelf life.

“This use of unmanned commercial drones to transport essential medical products is a milestone for Rwanda in many respects. It demonstrates the possibility of transforming business models in many industries beyond healthcare,” President Kagame said.

President Kagame further reiterated that Rwandans have learned to embrace innovation, especially when it is clear that it can help in solving the challenges that the country faces. He added that the abovementioned attitude has enabled Rwandans to overcome great odds in the last 22 years.

“This attitude has enabled us to overcome great odds in the last twenty-two years, and makes us optimistic about how much more we can achieve by working together with good partners. It starts with the right mindset to get things working properly. “Good enough” is no longer enough. We need to aim for the best,” President Kagame said.

Blood transfusion has greatly contributed to the country’s achievements in reducing the number of children dying prematurely, improving maternal healthcare, combating HIV/AIDS, Malaria and other infectious diseases.

Drones will considerably reduce the blood delivery time from almost four hours to less than one hour depending on the distance between the drone hub and the targeted health facility. The minimum delivery time for drones can go as short as 15 minutes.

In partnership with the Government of Rwanda, Zipline, Inc. has constructed a drone hub in Muhanga District with main utilities like power and fibre connectivity.  The drone port has been equipped with blood storage equipment and appropriate infrastructures were installed by the Rwanda Civil Aviation Authority (RCAA) to ensure security of drones as well as other civil and military aircrafts using the same air routes.

The project kicks off with a soft launch targeting five health facilities: Kabgayi, Nyanza, Gitwe, Kirinda and Muhororo District Hospitals. A total of 21 hospitals in Northern, Southern, and Western Provinces will ramp up over the first year after RCAA and the Ministry of Health testing phase approval. More sites will be added with the construction of additional hubs to cover the whole country after a successful performance evaluation of the first year of the medical delivery drones operations.

Facts about drones:

• Weight: 12 kilogrammes
• Wingspan: 2 metres
• They are pilotless; they fly using GPS signals
• Zips are fully electric and require no fuel
• Each Zip can carry 3-4 units of blood at a time
• Each Zip flies up to 120km/h and flies as far as 200 kilometres on a single battery charge.