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title: How a Hospital Drone Delivery Service is Saving Lives in Rwanda | TIME
description: In Rwanda, the American startup Zipline has partnered with the government to launch the world’s first commercial drone delivery service, ferrying vital medical supplies to its far-flung hospitals by air. 
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# How a Hospital Drone Delivery Service is Saving Lives in Rwanda

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<!-- video src="https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/cRNsMd5n.m3u8" -->
## Video: How a Hospital Drone Delivery Service is Saving Lives in Rwanda

[Watch (HLS stream): How a Hospital Drone Delivery Service is Saving Lives in Rwanda](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/cRNsMd5n.m3u8) (2:11)

![How a Hospital Drone Delivery Service is Saving Lives in Rwanda](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/cRNsMd5n/poster.jpg?width=720)

_Published 2017-11-27. In Rwanda, the American startup Zipline has partnered with the government to launch the world’s first commercial drone delivery service, ferrying vital medical supplies to its far-flung hospitals by air._


---

Jul 27, 2023 10:58 PM UTC

---

## More From This Series

[All Videos](https://time.com/video/)

[UPS Is Testing Out Drone Deliveries](/video/Nok6Wp4U/)

### UPS Is Testing Out Drone Deliveries

[GIFt Delivery Service](/video/vAGkXaRd/)

### GIFt Delivery Service

[Hospital Shows Rwanda's Health Care Successes](/video/EME7U0Lh/)

### Hospital Shows Rwanda's Health Care Successes

---


## Transcript

[ SOUND ] [ MUSIC ] [ MUSIC ] It's known as the land of 1, 000 hills. And so the speed at which you can get somewhere in the air is drastically faster than the speed at which you can get somewhere on the ground. Before Zipline, when we needed blood, we had to send some person to Kigali. But now, it takes between 10 and 20 minutes When you have to wait three hours, we can lose life in that time. But ten minutes, it's very easy to save lives of our people. [ MUSIC ] The reason we thought it was so important to start the plan is that, you can actually deliver blood in a way that can save lives and also save money.

[ MUSIC ] Blood is an incredibly critical component when it comes to keeping mothers safe right after they've given birth. 5. 8 million children die every year due to lack of access to basic medical products across the world, and that's a totally solvable problem. [ MUSIC ] [ MUSIC ]

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