Costa Rica to deploy drones to bring medicine to remote communities
                 Source: Xinhua | 2016-09-14 21:54:45 | Editor: huaxia

Drones fly over a wheat field to spray insecticide at the Wenjiazhuang Village in Shijiazhuang, north China's Hebei Province, May 19, 2015. (Xinhua/Wang Xiao)

SAN JOSE, Sept. 13 (Xinhua) -- The Costa Rican government will deploy drones to deliver much needed medicine to indigenous communities in Talamanca and Valle La Estrellas, remote areas of the Caribbean coast.

"This is an innovative pilot project for the institution...allowing us to attend to populations in the country's most marginalized region," the country's Department of Social Security (CCSS) said in a statement on Tuesday.

According to the CCSS' coordinator of pharmaceutical services, Esteban Vega, specialized drones will transport 13,200 containers of medicine a month and will take less than 45 minutes to deliver medicine each time.

Deliveries now take between three hours and three days, depending on weather and accessibility conditions.

The types of medicine will be ordered by the health authorities attending to these populations, in order to allow "equal access to medicine between the urban and rural population."

The drones will have to be approved and inspected by the country's civil aviation body.

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Costa Rica to deploy drones to bring medicine to remote communities

Source: Xinhua 2016-09-14 21:54:45

Drones fly over a wheat field to spray insecticide at the Wenjiazhuang Village in Shijiazhuang, north China's Hebei Province, May 19, 2015. (Xinhua/Wang Xiao)

SAN JOSE, Sept. 13 (Xinhua) -- The Costa Rican government will deploy drones to deliver much needed medicine to indigenous communities in Talamanca and Valle La Estrellas, remote areas of the Caribbean coast.

"This is an innovative pilot project for the institution...allowing us to attend to populations in the country's most marginalized region," the country's Department of Social Security (CCSS) said in a statement on Tuesday.

According to the CCSS' coordinator of pharmaceutical services, Esteban Vega, specialized drones will transport 13,200 containers of medicine a month and will take less than 45 minutes to deliver medicine each time.

Deliveries now take between three hours and three days, depending on weather and accessibility conditions.

The types of medicine will be ordered by the health authorities attending to these populations, in order to allow "equal access to medicine between the urban and rural population."

The drones will have to be approved and inspected by the country's civil aviation body.

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