Drones could herald faster, safer transport for organ transplants

Then-World Bank Group President Kim Jim Yong collecting the blood package released by a drone in a drone port project run by Zipline Inc at Muhanga District in Rwanda in 2017. Photo: AFP

A kidney needed for transplantation has been delivered by a drone for the first time ever, the University of Maryland Medical Centre in the United States said. This is a development that could herald faster and safer organ transport in the near future.

The specially-designed high-tech drone was fitted with equipment to monitor the kidney along its 3 mile (4.8km) journey to its recipient: a 44-year-old woman from Baltimore who had spent eight years on dialysis before the procedure.