Kennedy Agyapong describes medical drones as a misplaced priority

The Member of Parliament (MP) for Assin Central, Kennedy Ohene Agyapong, has described the government’s intent to secure drones to deliver health supplies as a misplaced priority.

Speaking on Adom TV’s Badwam show, he explained that Ghana has inadequate ambulances and lacks state-of-the-art health centres.

According to him, the areas in Ghana without health facilities need health centres and not drones.

“First things first; before you take the drone to deliver the drugs, you need to check the quality of the drugs and the facilities or the hospitals. I think it’s not a priority. Until we have state of the art hospitals, clinics and polyclinics that can deliver and prevent us from travelling outside for health care, then the drones are not a good idea,” he argued.

The government is seeking approval from parliament to engage Fly Zipline Ghana Limited, a private firm, to design, install and operate Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), subject to the approval of the Public Procurement Authority.

The $12 million contract is to enable government fly blood and other health essentials to deprived areas.

Fly Zipline launched similar service in Rwanda in 2006 to improve public health delivery in that country.

Ghana’s parliament deferred voting on the services agreement twice to allow for some issues to be ironed out.