TAKAMATSU -- A new telemedicine study has taken flight in Kagawa Prefecture utilizing drones to transport medicaments and equipment along with remote consultation technology to treat residents on remote islands.
Complicating the already inadequate access to medical care on remote islands across Japan, ferry services are often suspended during disastrous storms, which could prevent deliveries of food and medical supplies essential to the lives of islanders.
This envisaged telemedicine system, which combines online consultations with drone deliveries, is the brainchild of Kazuhiro Hara, an appointed professor at Kagawa University's Seto Inland Sea Regional Research Center. He is also a doctor at the clinic on Awashima island, which is about four kilometers from Suda Port in Mitoyo, Kagawa Prefecture. He has been working on this concept for the past five years, and the experiment was finally initiated on July 30.
Aioi Nissay Dowa Insurance Co. and Kamomeya Inc., a company working on the commercialization of drone transport based in Takamatsu, cooperated in carrying out the drone flights between Suda Port and Awashima island.
The island's clinic does not have a full-time doctor -- one is sent there several times a week.
Hara's experiment used a scenario of an islander reporting to the clinic with chest pains. Since there is no testing equipment available there, blood collected for a sample would need to be transported out.
About 30 people at Suda Port observed the experiment, in which a helicopter-type drone about 1 meter long, capable of carrying 15 kilograms of cargo, was to travel back and forth. On the island, 75 fifth-graders from Takuma Elementary School in Mitoyo looked on as well.
The first attempt failed when the drone crashed into the water midway through the flight, so they tried again with a backup vehicle. It took about three minutes to fly one way, and the drone successfully made the round trip.
The waters between Suda Port and Awashima island were chosen because there is little boat traffic, making them suitable for flight experiments.
"Combining remote consultations with drone deliveries can be an important improvement of medical care for islanders. I hope to build up my know-how while testing various types of drones so that I can propose them to provide effective medical support for people living on remote islands around the world," Hara said.
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