By Wallace Mawire
Drone Solutions (Pvt) Ltd and HealthPoint are exploring how drone technology could help save lives by enabling timely delivery of essential medical supplies and the movement of diagnostic samples between healthcare facilities.
The two-way delivery trials between Harare and Marondera demonstrate the potential of aerial logistics to complement conventional transport and address geographical barriers to healthcare access.
The Kite Aero drone departed HealthPoint Hospital on Lanark Road in Belgravia, Harare, carrying medical drugs to HealthPoint’s Borradaile Hospital in Marondera, covering 76 kilometres on the outbound journey.
On its return to Harare, the drone transported a blood sample for evaluation at HealthPoint’s Upper East Road Diagnostics Laboratories, covering a further 74 kilometres. The round trip covered a total of 150 kilometres along a Civil Aviation Authority of Zimbabwe (CAAZ) approved flight route and took approximately 70 minutes to complete.
By exploring faster delivery options for essential medical products and diagnostic samples, the initiative seeks to assess how drone-enabled logistics could support healthcare providers in responding to medical needs more efficiently. The trials will inform further evaluation of operational feasibility, subject to safety requirements and applicable regulatory approvals.
Peter Annesley, the Chief Executive Officer of HealthPoint, underscored the life-saving importance of timely access to medical products.
“Within the HealthPoint ecosystem, we need medical products to reach their recipients at the earliest possible opportunity. We are ultimately about saving lives, and timely access to essential medical products is an important part of that commitment,” he said.
Annesley added that working with Drone Solutions allows HealthPoint to explore alternative delivery methods that could overcome geographical and logistical barriers, supporting more responsive distribution of medical products to the facilities and people who need them.
Jeremiah Musabayana, the Chief Executive Officer of Drone Solutions Zimbabwe and Founder, President and Group CEO of Drone Solutions International, said the collaboration is focused on practical solutions to service-delivery challenges.
“Our ambition is to make distance less of a barrier to access, not by replacing conventional transport, but by adding a safe, practical and reliable delivery option where it can make a meaningful difference,” he said. “Drone technology must be assessed by the problems it can help solve. Through this collaboration, we are exploring how aerial logistics can complement existing delivery systems and help healthcare providers move essential supplies more efficiently,” Musabayana added.
The Kite Aero aircraft has a cargo capacity of up to four kilogrammes, a cruising speed of 120 kilometres per hour and a maximum speed of 200 kilometres per hour. Its reported maximum flight range is up to 277 kilometres under specified operating conditions, depending on payload, aircraft configuration and mission requirements.
The initiative is building on the Drone Solutions and Zimpost partnership launched in Plumtree on 10 October 2026 during World Post Day commemorations, extending efforts to explore drone-enabled delivery networks across Zimbabwe.
Drone Solutions is the biggest Zimbabwean drone technology company involved in drone sales, technical workshop, services, repairs, registration and professional training through its CAAZ-licensed Drone Solutions Training Institute, which has trained more than 1,500 pilots across available CAAZ drone ratings.
Safety, trained personnel, operational planning and regulatory compliance remain central to the company’s approach as it evaluates responsible applications of drone technology to healthcare logistics and other essential services.
Drone Solutions Zimbabwe is a subsidiary of Drone Solutions International, Africa’s biggest drone services network, operating in Zimbabwe, South Africa, Malawi, Mozambique and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. From our Harare office and technical workshop, one team connects sales, services, repairs, registration and professional training.