The Senior Vice President of Zipline in Africa, Mr Daniel Marfor, has said the Governor Nasir El-Rufai-led administration in Kaduna State was instrumental in the company’s entry to Nigeria.

Marfor, who made this known on Friday at the commissioning of Zipline’s operations in Pambegua, Kaduna State, said the facility has the capacity to house hundreds of healthcare products, including medicines, routine vaccines, and COVID-19 vaccines.

He added that his company’s drone service technology would cover more than 46,000 square kilometers and serve over 8 million people in Kaduna State when all the three distribution centres are completed.

Speaking at the event, Governor El-Rufai said the Kaduna State Government considered Zipline’s technology of distributing medical supplies by drones as innovative and in alignment with the state’s efforts to transform its health system.

The governor stated that by enabling the distribution of needed medical commodities to health facilities, the technology would help to save lives, reduce expenses on inventory and warehousing, and avoid stockouts and waste from the expiration of unutilised inventory.

He recalled that the partnership between the Kaduna State Government and Zipline was signed on February 3, 2021, expecting operations to commence before the end of 2021.

“The take-off has taken longer than envisaged. But we are excited to achieve this milestone in our health systems transformation programme and we look forward to its effective implementation in the service of our people.

“Navigating regulatory requirements has proven to be challenging, prolonging the take-off of this project. Yet, we believe that as a country, we should be swifter in enabling and adopting innovation,” El-Rufai said.

The governor further called on relevant aviation authorities to give their full support to the innovative technology.

READ ALSO: Kaduna govt, Zipline secure approval to commence health supplies

He, however, assured Zipline of the state government’s commitment to the success  of the project, saying: “We welcome the jobs and the new technology, and we look forward to it contributing to better health outcomes in Kaduna State.”

According to him, the instant delivery of medical supplies by drones “will help to advance our governance agenda to improve the access of our people to decent health services.”

The governor added that his administration has tried to improve and expand health infrastructure, hire more medical personnel, and provide equipment.

El-Rufai said: “Over the last seven years, we have strengthened the capacity of our primary health care system to deliver better services.

“Through legislation, we placed the administration of the primary health system under one roof, to ensure that their operations are standardised irrespective of where they are located.

“We also implemented a programme to renovate and equip 255 primary health centres, one in each political ward.

“Several secondary health facilities have also received new equipment and more medical personnel.

“Significant investments in tertiary health facilities have earned our Barau Dikko Hospital accredited teaching hospital status,  even as we push to complete the 300-bed hospital.

“Reforms in the health sector include the implementation of a supply chain transformation programme.

“At the heart of this is the Kaduna State Health Supplies Management Agency (KADSHMA) which is the agency responsible for ensuring that our health facilities get the medicines, consumables, and vaccines they need,” the governor stated.

The Star