Zipline’s Operations in Ghana Were Unnecessary and Misguided — Health Committee Chair

The Chairman of Parliament’s Health Committee, Dr. Mark Kurt Nawaane, has questioned the relevance of medical drone delivery services provided by Zipline in Ghana, arguing that the initiative did not address the country’s actual health sector challenges.

Speaking to journalists on Thursday, December 4, Dr. Nawaane described the introduction of Zipline, an initiative championed by former Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, as a misdiagnosis of the root problems affecting Ghana’s blood supply system.

“Zipline’s presence in this country is a mistake,” he said. “Everybody in the health sector knows that the major challenge with blood and blood products is not transportation. The real issue is the lack of voluntary donors.”

According to him, health facilities continue to struggle with chronic shortages of blood because donation rates remain low, forcing relatives, churches, and community groups to be mobilized whenever patients require emergency transfusions.

Dr. Nawaane insisted that investment in cold rooms and adequate storage infrastructure across district hospitals would have served the country better than the monthly expenditure on drone services.

“The amount of money we spend on Zipline every month is $528,000,” he revealed. “If this same amount had been used over the past five years to establish cold rooms in our hospitals and health centres, we would have solved the problem.”

He further urged medical superintendents to prioritize accommodation for newly posted doctors, noting that safe and decent housing remains a critical concern for health professionals moving to new duty stations.

“What doctors usually look for when they go to any place is accommodation,” he stressed. “I appeal to all medical superintendents to use part of their IGF to rent decent accommodation for incoming doctors and other health workers.”

The comments have reignited debate over the long-term value of Ghana’s drone delivery system, which was launched in 2019 as a technology-driven approach to improving access to emergency medical supplies in remote areas.