Medical drones transportation solutions
Medical drones transportation solutions
Business Model Description
Provide transportation solutions for medicines, blood, vaccines and perishable healthcare supplies with drones to private and public health facilities.
Expected Impact
Foster accessibility of healthcare products in hard to reach communities.
How is this information gathered?
Investment opportunities with potential to contribute to sustainable development are based on country-level SDG Investor Maps.
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Country & Regions
- Ghana: Upper West
- Ghana: Upper East
- Ghana: North East
- Ghana: Northern
- Ghana: Central
- Ghana: Eastern
Sector Classification
Health Care
Development need
Ghana's healthcare sector is characterized by insufficient financing. Healthcare expenditure is approximately USD 66 per capita, or 3.6% of gross domestic product (GDP), both below the already low regional Sub-Saharan average.(III) Another healthcare challenge is insufficient doctors, and nurses and midwives (1.1 and 9.8 for every 10,000 inhabitants respectively), numbers which are also below the regional average.(V) Subjective wellbeing of Ghana's population is rated as mediocre, scoring 5.0 out of 10.0.(I)
Policy priority
The country's policy aims to achieve a resilient healthcare delivery system, achieve sustainable financing for health, reach universal health coverage and reduce the financial barriers to healthcare by developing a National Health Insurance Scheme.(IV)
Key bottlenecks
The main sector challenges include: lack of medical infrastructure, inadequate equipment, low number of doctors and average level of knowledge among medical personnel, high regional disparities in access, low insurance penetration, poor access to birth control, and inadequate nutrition.
Health Care Distributors
Pipeline Opportunity
Medical drones transportation solutions
Provide transportation solutions for medicines, blood, vaccines and perishable healthcare supplies with drones to private and public health facilities.
Business Case
Market Size and Environment
2,500 health centres in Ghana could benefit from medical drone delivery.
In 2017, Ghana had 998 clinics, 140 district hospitals, 1,004 health centers, 347 hospitals and 38 polyclinics which can all benefit from medical drone delivery.(3)
Indicative Return
> 25%
Stakeholders indicated a similar business model achieves an average gross margin of 20% - 30%.(9)
Investment Timeframe
Short Term (0–5 years)
Stakeholders estimated positive cashflows can be achieved in less than 5 years.(9)
Market Risks & Scale Obstacles
Capital - CapEx Intensive
Business - Supply Chain Constraints
Market - Highly Regulated
Impact Case
Sustainable Development Need
The poor accessibility of healthcare products is connected with high logistics challenges of supplying remote areas.(7)
Long distances contribute to high medicine waste. In rural areas, significant numbers of patients die due to not receiving appropriate medicine. This is a serious issue given around 45% of Ghana's population lives in rural areas.(7)
Gender & Marginalisation
Health facilities and health staff are unequally distributed around the country e.g. Ashanti and Greater Accra had 40% of the total health workforce in 2016.(6)
Expected Development Outcome
Improved access to medications, increased accessibility to perishable healthcare supplies in remote areas
Improved level of diagnosis and treatment for diseases, improved access to medication, vaccines and health perishables, fewer deaths arising from treatable diseases
Gender & Marginalisation
Increased access to family planning methods for women in remote areas
Primary SDGs addressed
3.b.3 Proportion of health facilities that have a core set of relevant essential medicines available and affordable on a sustainable basis
3.8.1 Coverage of essential health services
Secondary SDGs addressed
Directly impacted stakeholders
People
Gender inequality and/or marginalization
Planet
Corporates
Public sector
Indirectly impacted stakeholders
Public sector
Outcome Risks
The increasing amount of drones can lead to air crashes if the air movement is not carefully controlled.
Drone operators are not medical experts, so they may send the wrong medicines and extend the delivery time.(7)
Drones not maintaining appropriate temperature levels can lead to medicine losses.(7)
Impact Classification
What
Upscaling the operations of medical drones is likely to have a positive impact because it reduces transport time and can easily reach remote regions.
Who
Rural and remote communities and hospitals which are aggrieved due to poor access to medicines or blood for operations.
Risk
The sector is capital and knowledge intensive. There is data about the business model, and unclear regulations and policies, which contribute to uncertainty in the sector.
Impact Thesis
Foster accessibility of healthcare products in hard to reach communities.
Enabling Environment
Policy Environment
Medium-Term National Development Policy Framework: An Agenda For Jobs: Creating Prosperity and Equal Opportunity for All (First Step) 2018-2021: This plan recognizes the low application of technology as a bottleneck for development, and therefore targets technology transfer and its wider use as well as growing technical capabilities.(20)
National Health Policy 2020: This policy commits to achieving universal health coverage, increasing access to health technologies, ensuring access to medicines and establishing beneficial public-private partnerships.(23)
National Health Policy 2020: This policy also seeks to increase access to medical services and address the current disparities in access across the country.(22)
The government plans to provide a nationwide drone services to transport blood and medical samples in 2020. For this purpose, 140 people have been trained as drone pilots through the Nation Builders Corps.(1)
Financial Environment
Financial incentives: Companies listed on the Ghana Stock Exchange have a chargeable income tax rate of 22% instead of 25%.(18)
Fiscal incentives: Corporate tax rates are presently 25%. However, the interest or dividend paid or credited to a person on a qualifying investment in a qualifying venture capital financing company for the first 10 years has a chargeable income tax rate of 1%.(18)
Regulatory Environment
The Ghana Civil Aviation (Amendment) Act, 2019 (Act 985) based on Act from the 2004 (Act 678): This Act regulates air traffic in Ghana and updates responsibilities of the Civil Aviation Authority. The regulation was passed to comply with international standards.(12)
Aircraft Accident and Serious Incident Regulations, 2019: These regulations aim to increase safety and provide procedures to deal with accidents. The Accident Incident Bureau instituted under this regulation investigates aviation accidents.(15)
The commercial use of drones must be licensed by the Ghana Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA). The authority provides RPAS (remotely piloted aircraft system) Guidance for Commercial Operations, which explains registration procedures. High altitude flights require separate approvals.(16)
The Ghana Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) regulates air transport. It also licenses drones and pilots, and supervises the sector.(11) Until a new body is formed under Act 985, GCAA also provides navigation services.(15)
Marketplace Participants
Private Sector
Zipline International, Novartis, Pfizer
Government
Ministry of Health, Ghana Civil Aviation Authority
Non-Profit
Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Gavi - the Vaccine Alliance, UPS Foundation
Target Locations
Ghana: Upper West
Ghana: Upper East
Ghana: North East
Ghana: Northern
Ghana: Central
Ghana: Eastern
References
- (I) Sachs, J., Schmidt-Traub, G., Kroll, C., Lafortune, G., Fuller, G., Woelm, F. (2020). The Sustainable Development Goals and COVID-19. Sustainable Development Report 2020. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. (II) UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (2020). West And Central Africa COVID-19 Digest, 26 July. https://reports.unocha.org/en/country/west-central-africa/card/6uLx4i1qIe/ (III) World Bank database. https://data.worldbank.org/ (IV) Ghana Ministry of Health (2020). National Health Policy: Ensuring healthy lives for all. (VI) UN Development Programme (2019). Inequalities in Human Development in the 21st Century. Briefing note for countries on the 2019 Human Development Report.
- (1) Republic of Ghana (2020). Citizens' Budget 2020. https://mofep.gov.gh/sites/default/files/budget-statements/2020-Citizens-Budget.pdf
- (2) Ministry of Health. Vice President launches Ghana’s drone delivery service at Omenako. https://www.moh.gov.gh/vice-president-launches-ghanas-drone-delivery-service-at-omenako/
- (3) Ghana Health Service (2018). The Health Sector in Ghana: Facts and Figures. https://ghanahealthservice.org/downloads/Facts+Figures_2018.pdf
- (4) DW (2018). Medical drones: Ghana to follow Rwanda’s example. https://www.dw.com/en/medical-drones-ghana-to-follow-rwandas-example/a-46690095
- (5) BBC News (2018). Ghana drones: Row over blood-delivery devices. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-46543442
- (6) Ghana Health Service (2017). Ghana Health Service Annual Report 2016. https://www.ghanahealthservice.org/downloads/GHS_ANNUAL_REPORT_2016_n.pdf
- (7) Demuyakor, J. (2020). ‘Ghana Go Digital Agenda: The Impact of Zipline Drone Technology on Digital Emergency Health Delivery in Ghana,’ Shanlax International Journal of Arts, Science and Humanities. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/342709774_Ghana_Go_Digital_Agenda_The_impact_of_Zipline_Drone_Technology_on_Digital_Emergency_Health_Delivery_in_Ghana
- (8) BMC Public Health (2012). Geographical access to care at birth in Ghana: a barrier to safe motherhood. https://bmcpublichealth.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1471-2458-12-991
- (9) UNDP/PwC interviews 2020.
- (10) CNBC (2019). Zipline, which delivers lifesaving medical supplies by drone, now valued at $1.2 billion. https://www.cnbc.com/2019/05/17/zipline-medical-delivery-drone-start-up-now-valued-at-1point2-billion.html
- (11) Ghana Civil Aviation Authority. About Us. http://www.gcaa.com.gh/web/?page_id=342
- (12) Ghana Civil Aviation (Amendment) Act, 2019 (Act 985). http://www.gcaa.com.gh/web/wp-content/uploads/2018/legal/GHANA_CIVIL_AVIATION_AMENDMENT_ACT_2019.pdf
- (13) McNabb, M. (2016). Startup Zipline Raises $25 million: What’s the Future of Drone Delivery? https://dronelife.com/2016/11/11/startup-zipline-raises-25-million-whats-future-drone-delivery/
- (14) McNabb, M. (2019). How Zipline Became a $1.2 Billion Drone Company. https://dronelife.com/2019/05/21/how-zipline-became-a-1-2-billion-drone-company/
- (15) The Conversation (2019). Ghana aims for safer skies with new aviation laws, https://theconversation.com/ghana-aims-for-safer-skies-with-new-aviation-laws-119610
- (16) Global Drone Regulations Database. https://www.droneregulations.info/Ghana/GH.html#country-search
- (17) Ghana Investment Promotion Centre (2017). Doing business in Ghana - To Know and Invest in Ghana.
- (18) Ghana Investment Promotion Centre. Ghana incentives inventory, https://www.gipcghana.com/press-and-media/downloads/promotional-materials/33-ghana-incentives-inventory/file.html
- (19) Crunch base. Zipline. https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/zipline-international/company_financials
- (20) Medium-Term National Development Policy Framework: An Agenda For Jobs: Creating Prosperity and Equal Opportunity for All (First Step) 2018-2021.
- (21) McNabb, M. (2019). How Zipline Became a $1.2 Billion Drone Company. https://dronelife.com/2019/05/21/how-zipline-became-a-1-2-billion-drone-company/
- (22) Ministry of Health (2018). Medium Term Expenditure Framework for 2018-2021. https://www.mofep.gov.gh/sites/default/files/pbb-estimates/2018/2018-PBB-MoH.pdf
- (23) Ministry of Health (2020). National Health Policy: Ensuring healthy lives for all. https://www.moh.gov.gh/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/NHP_12.07.2020.pdf-13072020-FINAL.pdf
- (24) Vox (2019). Ghana’s new lifesaving drones: like Uber, but for blood. https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/2019/6/4/18647685/medical-drones-ghana-africa-zipline-global-health