A new project is set to explore the potential for using drones for transporting medical samples, aiming to revolutionise healthcare logistics in Luxembourg.

Laboratoires Réunis, Luxembourg Air Ambulance, POST Luxembourg, and Santé Services have joined forces in the project, which is titled GRIFFIN.

An Eiger drone will operate at altitudes between 80 and 120 meters, achieving speeds exceeding 100 km/h, and in a test phase will connect Hôpitaux Robert Schuman in Kirchberg with the Laboratoires Réunis analysis laboratory in Junglinster.

The project, initiated in July 2023, will begin with a study on the technical feasibilities to showcase the advantage of drone transport, including faster speeds, heightened security, sustainability, reduced urban congestion and simplified monitoring and tracking.

The consortium has already developed a test track and selected the Eiger drone from the Swiss company Rigitech for the planned test flights.

The anticipated test flight phase is set for the second half of 2024.

Other countries have already made use of medical drones. During the start of the pandemic, Scotland flew medicine and Covid-19 tests to remote islands, and a Polish company connected hospitals by drone. Everyday drone deliveries are already a reality in some parts of the United States.