Akihabara News (Tokyo) — Major transportation firm Yamato Holdings is signing cooperation agreements with remote communities to test the concept of making deliveries of prescription drugs to elderly residents by drone.
“Regarding the receipt of prescription drugs,” a company statement explains, “many customers currently have ample opportunity to go directly to dispensing pharmacies and other outlets, but as the population ages, it is expected that demands for delivery will increase, especially in mountainous areas and rural areas.”
To address this expected need, Yamato has signed agreements with two local governments–Wake town (population 14,000) in Okayama Prefecture and Naka town (population 7,500) in Tokushima Prefecture.
Yamato will work with the local authorities to collect information, gather needed permissions, and conduct practical tests with an eye toward creating a system whereby elderly people in remote areas can receive their medicines without the need for traveling to a pharmacy, which in some cases may be quite distant.
Also in mind is that such services may be needed in the wake of natural disasters, which sometimes cut off rural residents from the outside for a period of time when train lines or roads are temporarily severed.
The practical tests along the Yoshii River basin in Wake town are expected in late November, while the tests in Naka town are expected sometime in December.
Last year, Yamato announced that it was collaborating with the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) to develop a 400 kilogram payload-class cargo pod for an electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aerial system.
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