Balcells: “Applying drones to health will prove highly useful when it comes to furthering environmental sustainability and reducing costs and travel times”

The TIC Salut Social Foundation, the Centre for Telecommunications and Information Technology (CTTI) and the Hospital d’Olot i Comarcal de la Garrotxa Foundation held an event today to address the challenges posed by drone technology in the field of health. The report titled “Integration of Drones into the Field of Health” and some of the pilot tests for transporting medical equipment and biological samples set to begin soon were presented during the seminar.

Manel Balcells, the regional Minister of Health, attended the event and witnessed the flight demonstration between the Basic Health Area (ABS) in the D’en Bas Valley and Olot Hospital. Balcells highlighted that “today we’ve experienced the present and the future of the application of drones in the area of healthcare.” He also emphasised “the major interest of this technology in terms of environmental and economic sustainability issues, as well as its potential applications, such as during the transport of samples and medicines between isolated health centres.” The Minister of Health also highlighted the track record of Olot Hospital with regard to innovation projects and, in particular, the use of drones.

The report presented during the seminar was drawn up by the TIC Salut Social Foundation with the support of the Digital Catalonia Alliance. The Foundation’s director, Joan Guanyabens, indicated that “drones display great potential for improving medical care and the transport of biological samples and medical equipment, particularly in rural and inaccessible areas.” As a result, he announced, “we plan to carry out pilot tests focused on the logistical, emergency and clinical areas while engaging the main institutions involved in the system.”

As for Josep Maria Padrosa, the manager of Olot Hospital, he explained that “having local primary care centres makes it easier for us to undertake innovation projects of these characteristics.” In fact, he recalled that “the first drone flight with biological samples took place in Olot a year ago.“

The CTTI is promoting and coordinating the pilot tests that will be conducted with the drones. It’s doing so within the framework of its innovation programme, which seeks to overcome the challenges and meet the needs raised by the administration to accelerate its digital transformation and improve its services.

Integration of drones into the field of health

The report introduces drone technology, the regulatory, ethical, security and privacy aspects associated with its use and its potential applications to health, with examples of studies and pilot tests carried out in Europe and around the world.

With respect to cases of the use of drones in healthcare, it divides them into three main areas: logistics, emergencies and clinics. Logistics encompasses the use of drones to transport biological samples and tissues, pharmalogical therapies, medical devices and other kinds of materials. As for the area of emergencies, apart from the transport of medical equipment, it envisages incorporating telemedicine solutions, facilitating communications and providing the personnel in charge of the management of an emergency situation with resources (lighting, imaging, sensors, etc.) to speed up care in inaccessible locations where speed is vital. Finally, the integration of drones into the clinical area of health is the task that has only reached an early stage, although proofs of concept related to improving cognitive development have been found.

The main challenges facing all the above-mentioned areas focus on the strict current regulations, data security, enabling a specific space to carry out the flight operations, coordination and the integration of the drone operations into those featuring manned aviation. Despite the challenges, the report underlines the need to develop the regulations so as to take full advantage of the potential benefits of the use of drones in the field of health. Among the above, the aim is to improve the quality and efficiency of the care, reduce the financial costs associated with transport and considerably reduce journey times and CO2 emissions with respect to conventional road and air transport.

Pilot tests in La Garrotxa and the North Metropolitan area

The TIC Salut Social Foundation and the CTTI will soon launch several pilot tests in order to size the costs and assess the risks and benefits of using drones in the three work areas. The first test will begin in late June and consist of the transport of biological samples from the ABS in the D’en Bas Valley to Olot Hospital for analysis and the unscheduled transport of other samples and medical equipment in the opposite direction.

The journey made today by drone between the Sant Esteve d’en Bas health centre and Olot Hospital confirmed that 60% of the transport time can be saved and that the carbon footprint can be reduced in comparison with a journey made by land. The drone flight lasted around seven minutes, while the journey in a vehicle takes twenty minutes.

The second pilot test, an initiative of the North Metropolitan Primary Care Directorate of the Catalan Institute of Health that’s scheduled to begin soon, will consist of the transport of biological samples between the Sant Fost-Martorelles health centre and the Germans Trias i Pujol University Hospital in Badalona. Apart from the health centres involved, the Medical Emergency System (SEM) and T-Systems will take part in the two tests. The second, an initiative of the North Metropolitan Primary Care Directorate of the Catalan Institute of Health that’s scheduled to begin soon, will consist of the transport of biological samples between the Sant Fost-Martorelles health centre and the Germans Trias i Pujol University Hospital in Badalona. Apart from the health centres involved, the Medical Emergency System (SEM) and T-Systems will take part in the two tests.

These tests come in the wake of the work that began in May 2023 at Olot Hospital, when the feasibility of transporting blood analyses by drone was validated. During this pilot test it was possible to keep the samples in good condition and reduce the transport time by 43% and the CO2 emissions by 80%. The next step now is to assess whether the service is applicable and scalable to the Health System.