"Ready to take off!" At about 15:00 on January 10, with a command sounding, a drone carrying 350 tubes of nucleic acid test specimens took off from the square in front of the outpatient building of Luohu Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine. After about 13 minutes of flight, at 15:30, the drone landed on the tarmac on the roof of the Luohu Hospital Group Medical Inspection Center 13 kilometers away, and the medical staff immediately stepped forward to take out the specially made thermostatic cargo box of the drone and transfer it to the laboratory department for inspection and analysis.
On January 7, according to the needs of epidemic prevention and control, traffic control was implemented in The Liantang Area of Luohu In Shenzhen. In order to send nucleic acid samples from various sampling points in Liantang for testing more quickly, on January 10, Luohu Hospital Group used a drone to transport nucleic acid test specimens from Liantang area to The Medical Inspection Center of Luohu Hospital Group. The reporter learned at the scene that a single UAV has a load of 10 kilograms, a maximum carrying capacity of 800 tube specimens, and the delivery time can be shortened from more than 1 hour required for ground transportation to about 13 minutes.
The flight takes 13 minutes to cross more than 10 kilometers to send nucleic acid specimens
Sun Xizhuo, secretary of the party committee and president of Luohu Hospital Group, introduced that the ground distance from Luohu Traditional Chinese Medicine Hospital to the Medical Inspection Center of Luohu Hospital Group is about 13.5 kilometers, due to the current epidemic control, according to the previous way of transporting nucleic acid specimens on the ground, the road takes more than 1 hour, and the air distance of drone transportation is about 10.3 kilometers, without waiting for traffic lights, no congestion, about 13 minutes to reach the destination, which greatly saves time, improves the efficiency of inspection reports, and maximizes the needs of residents and the prevention and control of the new crown epidemic.
"The fight against the epidemic is a race against the virus, and if we can save time in the nucleic acid sampling and transportation process, we can win the initiative for the fight against the epidemic." Sun Xizhuo said frankly that almost a year ago, the group began to use drones to transport medical samples, and the epidemic just played a role, "Luohu Hospital Group has 5 hospitals and 39 social health centers, these medical units are distributed throughout Luohu District, and the group's medical testing center is located in Buji, and a large number of test specimens are transported here." In addition to special vehicles for land transportation, last year, Luohu Hospital and Luohu Traditional Chinese Medicine Hospital began to use drones to transport specimens, and later Luohu Hospital's drone transportation gradually became the main force."
800 tubes of samples at a time, 24 hours "on call"
At present, the UAV transporting specimens is the SF Ark 40 UAV, with a load of 10 kg and a maximum carrying capacity of 800 tube specimens. There are special incubators and internal cold chain measures to ensure that the constant temperature in the specimen transport box is 2-8 degrees, which can ensure the quality and safety of the specimens, and is suitable for moderate rain, medium snow and 5 windy weather. In order to ensure the timely and effective transportation of new crown specimens, the drone is loaded at any time and can leave at any time, and in the necessary scenarios, it can be "on call" 24 hours a day, and if necessary, it can also be transported at night. In addition, the UAV also has an explosion-proof function, and the sample sampling tubes of the specimens carried are made of plastic and are not easy to damage. At present, the qualification for flight has been approved.
Zhang Xiuming, vice president of Luohu Hospital Group and director of the medical laboratory, added that the time requirements for nucleic acid reporting in this epidemic prevention and control are very urgent, the laboratory invests about 80 people for nucleic acid testing, in addition to many people to ensure supply, information statistics, pre-specimen treatment, specimen distribution, etc., these are about 30-40 people, the overall investment of personnel is about 120-140 people, basically to achieve full participation. "Many comrades have no rest for 48 hours, and continuous combat is particularly hard, just to complete the testing task according to the requirements of quality and quantity." The use of drones to transport nucleic acid detection specimens in the Liantang area can buy time for blocking the epidemic, and in the face of samples that need urgent screening, they can be quickly sent to the laboratory for testing, effectively helping the prevention and control of the epidemic. ”
"As one of the contents of Shenzhen's intelligent city, in the future, drones can not only transport specimens, but also some consumables, small objects, etc. can be transported through drones, which are the progress of Shenzhen's scientific and technological development of modern logistics industry, as well as the application of the Internet under 5G in Luohu Hospital Group." Sun Xizhuo said that Luohu Hospital Group will continue to improve the construction of the UAV sample distribution network, and gradually expand the scope of its use, and use scientific and technological means to improve the efficiency of medical services.
Writer: Trainee reporter Chen Xinghua Photojournalist Zhao Yanxiong Correspondent Chen Chen