A drone transport human tissue
A drone carried out test flights in Antwerp, eastern Belgium, to transport human tissue from one hospital to another for analysis, an unprecedented experience in Europe which could save money. valuable time during operation.
The drone, piloted by the Flemish company Helicus, left a building of the Antwerp ZNA hospital network to land four minutes later on the roof of the Sint-Augustinus branch of the GZA hospitals, 800 meters away: inside 'a tube attached to the drone, a vial containing potentially cancerous human tissue for analysis at the Sint-Augustus laboratory.
This test flight, followed by three others during the day, is a first: Helicus is currently the only European company to have received, in mid-June, the authorization to organise drone flights for medical purposes, at the above a city and flown remotely out of the operator's line of sight.
These tests, carried out with a device from the Belgian manufacturer SABCA, come before new European regulations expected in 2023, which will allow the generalisation of the transport of human tissue by drones.
Helicus is banking on commercial development and regular flights by 2024.
"Faced with the increase in the costs of health systems, expensive medical technical services such as laboratories can be centralised in the same place", allowing neighbouring hospitals to send their samples, explains Mikael Shamim, CEO of Helicus.
