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Costa Rica to deploy drones to bring medicine to remote communities

Xinhua, September 14, 2016 Adjust font size:

The Costa Rican government will deploy drones to deliver much needed medicine to indigenous communities in Talamanca and Valle La Estrellas, remote areas of the Caribbean coast.

"This is an innovative pilot project for the institution...allowing us to attend to populations in the country's most marginalized region," the country's Department of Social Security (CCSS) said in a statement on Tuesday.

According to the CCSS' coordinator of pharmaceutical services, Esteban Vega, specialized drones will transport 13,200 containers of medicine a month and will take less than 45 minutes to deliver medicine each time.

Deliveries now take between three hours and three days, depending on weather and accessibility conditions.

The types of medicine will be ordered by the health authorities attending to these populations, in order to allow "equal access to medicine between the urban and rural population."

The drones will have to be approved and inspected by the country's civil aviation body. Endi