Medicines have begun to be delivered via UAVs to remote villages and communities near the front lines
Medications under the “Affordable Medicines” program are already being delivered by drones in two regions of Ukraine.
So far, 60,000 packages of medication have been delivered to patients this way.
The system works through an electronic prescription: a family doctor issues a prescription to a patient, a nurse forwards the prescription number to a pharmacist, and after the prescription is filled, the medication is packed into a disposable box, labeled with the patient’s information, and delivered by drone to a clinic or rural health post.
According to Mykhailo Radutskyi, chairman of the parliamentary Committee on National Health, this logistics system is particularly important for remote villages and frontline communities, where access to pharmacies can be difficult.
Source: Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine.
The state program “Affordable Medicines” has added another 260 brand-name medications. The new medications are intended for the treatment of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases and are now available to patients through the reimbursement program.
As Lyashko added, the nearest pharmacy can be found via the National Health Service of Ukraine’s (NSZU) dashboard, “Electronic Map of Locations Dispensing Medications via E-Prescription.”
