Oschatz. It takes a courier driver between 20 and 25 minutes to travel from the Collm Clinic in Oschatz to the laboratory in Riesa – if things go well. If there’s heavy traffic, a traffic jam along the route, or a constant red light, for example, the transport takes significantly longer. Time is scarce in an emergency to treat patients quickly based on their findings. The hospital in Oschatz wants to eliminate this risk in the future. Therefore, important samples will soon be delivered to the laboratory by drone. “This will then only take eight minutes, rather than 80 minutes or longer in the worst-case scenario,” says hospital managing director Stefan Härtel.
The Collm Clinic will continue to operate its own laboratory, but will rely on the services of its partners in Riesa for special products. Because traffic on the route between the two cities is constantly increasing, the risk of delays is also increasing, according to Härtel. Therefore, a transport drone will be used in the future. “It’s innovative and environmentally friendly,” says the managing director, who anticipates up to 30 flights per week, depending on demand. The costs are comparable to taxi fares for courier trips.
The contractor is German Copters DLS GmbH from Dresden. The company also operates as a courier on the roads, but specializes in service flights by drone.
Approval for the route to the Collm Clinic has now been obtained, as has permission to fly over populated areas. At a meeting in Oschatz, the hospital’s managing directors, together with Mayor David Schmidt and representatives of the police station, discussed the final details.