What Is Holding Back The Use of Drones for Medication Delivery in Rural Australia?

Abstract

In Australia, there is a significant health gap between rural and urban populations. One set of tools that could help lessen that gap is drones used for pharmaceutical delivery. There are extensive regulations surrounding the dispensing of prescription and controlled drugs, as well as strict requirements from aviation regulations for drone operators to meet. To assess and analyse the issues associated with operating at the intersection of pharmaceutical and aviation regulations in Australia, institutional theories can be applied. To inductively shed light on the key issues associated with the use of drones for the delivery of pharmaceuticals, a series of interviews were conducted using a truncated convergent interviewing approach. The common issues raised amongst experts highlight the complex challenge when developing drone networks for the delivery of pharmaceuticals. The main constraints appear to be due to aviation, not medication regulation. Legal grey areas, regulator inflexibility and other regulatory concerns stemming from strong institutional forces have created an environment limiting the use of drone delivery. Until drone regulations are changed, the potential of this innovative and developing sector is substantially restrained and those living in regional and rural areas will continue to have limited access to healthcare.