Skip to content Skip to Search
Skip navigation

Gulf could have drone healthcare delivery by 2026

By Gavin Gibbon
Drone delivery could help provide healthcare to more remote regions of the Gulf, backers of a pilot programme hope Wingcopter
Drone delivery could help provide healthcare to more remote regions of the Gulf, backers of a pilot programme hope
  • Pilot programme nearing completion
  • ‘This is not futuristic’
  • Greater efficiency and reduced costs

Drone delivery technology transporting healthcare materials such as blood samples, vaccines and pharmaceuticals is likely to take to the skies across the Gulf within the next two years.

A test programme between Siemens Healthineers and the German drone manufacturer Wingcopter in Kenya is due to come to a conclusion in the next two and a half months, and its backers hope it could then be rolled out in the Gulf.

Vivek Kanade, the Dubai-based head of business and operations in the Middle East and Africa for Siemens Healthineers, told AGBI: “This is not futuristic. This is not something planned a long way away.

“In the next one year, two years, you should see more examples of this.”

The drones are battery powered and have a 75km range. They are connected to Siemens Healthineers’ laboratory diagnostics facilities, allowing for a two-way delivery of samples, medicine and other medical products to remote areas of the population.

Kanade said the technology results in a faster turnaround time, increased efficiency and a reduction in costs.

“It can scale to any region,” he said. “We can take Dubai as a hub and go up to Hatta, into smaller towns, to provide access, meaning people don’t have to travel up and down the road for their medical needs.”

In 2021, about 4.5 billion people, more than half of the global population, were not fully covered by essential health services, a report from the World Health Organization said.

Across the Middle East and Africa, Kanade said the figure was more than 1 billion.

The research company Statista predicted that the drone market in the UAE alone would generate revenue of $4.1 million in 2023, across a range of different sectors. 

In 2024, the market is predicted to record a growth rate of 7.7 percent.

Latest articles

Investor Tim Draper told AGBI the US must 'swing back to freedom' to avoid losing innovation to countries such as the UAE

Tim Draper: UAE benefits from US crypto ‘overregulation’

Billionaire venture capitalist Tim Draper has criticised the US for its restrictive stance on cryptocurrency, claiming it is driving innovators towards more encouraging and friendlier markets such as the UAE. The Gulf state is actively developing regulatory frameworks to lure new forms of business, amid intense regional economic competition. Dubai and Abu Dhabi have set […]

A subsidiary of Banque Misr will open the first digital-only bank in Egypt this year

Egypt to open first digital bank later this year

Misr Digital Innovation will open Egypt’s first digital bank towards the end of the year, as it looks to appeal to the North African’s country’s younger and unbanked demographic. MTI, a subsidiary of Banque Misr, is the first bank to have received approval to establish a digital bank by the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) […]

Mukesh Ambani, chairman and managing director of Reliance Industries which will receive the investment from AIDA and US-based KKR

Abu Dhabi’s ADIA invests in Indian warehouses

The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA) and the US-based private equity firm KKR have invested INR 12,000 crore ($1.5 billion) in India’s Reliance Retail Ventures’ warehousing assets.  Both companies have invested equal amounts in Reliance Logistics and Warehouse Holdings (RLWH), The Economic Times, an Indian financial daily, reported, citing informed sources.  RLWH was established in […]

Saudi Arabia’s industry and mineral resources minister Bandar Al-Khorayef. The country is struggling to meet an FDI target of $100bn a year by 2030

Saudi industry minister tempts investors with funding incentives

Saudi Arabia’s ministry of investments and mineral resources is prepared to finance up to 75 percent of industrial projects in the country, as the kingdom tries to boost its low foreign direct investment (FDI) numbers.  Bandar Al-Khorayef, the minister of industry and mineral resourcespointed to well-developed infrastructure across 36 industrial cities, prefabricated factories ready to […]