The search giant's device would let users press a button indicating the specific medical emergency or request, and the system would deploy a drone to meet their needs at the scene.

Then, in August, a project backed by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) began using drones from startup medical drone maker Vayu along with Stony Brook University “to improve health care for vulnerable rural communities where delivery of care is hampered by poor or nonexistent roads.”


“The flights to and from villages in the Ifanadiana district [of Madagascar] usher in a new era in bringing health care to people living in really remote settings,” said Dr. Peter Small, the Founding Director of Stony Brook’s Global Health Institute. “This would not have been possible without the support of the government and people of Madagascar. In this context drones will find innumerable uses such as accelerating the diagnosis of tuberculosis and ensuring the delivery of vaccines.”

In September, United Parcel Service (UPS) had begun testing drone delivery to get emergency medical supplies to hard-to-reach places.

The brown, UPS-labelled drones, from Danvers, Massachusetts-based maker CyPhy Works, launched the program with a test flight in rural Massachusetts. The UPS Strategic Enterprise Fund owns a position in the drone manufacturer.

“We think drones offer a great solution to deliver to hard-to-reach locations in urgent situations where other modes of transportation are not readily available,” Mark Wallace, UPS senior vice president of global engineering and sustainability observed.

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