Of the 800,000 people that suffer cardiac arrests every year in the European union only 64,000 people survive them, a mere 8%. The main reason for this being that the first few minutes of a cardiac arrest are vital, fatalities in most cases within 4-6 minutes; the average response time to a life threatening 999 call in the UK is 19 minutes, of course in urban areas this figure is a lot lower with around 60% of calls being reached within 8 minutes… still not quick enough.

This kind of data is what gave engineering graduate Alec Momont, the idea to invent an ‘ambulance drone’. This drone is armed with 6 propellers, can reach speeds of up to 60mph and has a carrying capacity of 4kg – in this case a defibrillator. Using GPS to track down emergency calls the drone would be able to reach a call in under a minute in some cases, the drone is also equipped with a video calling device which would enable a paramedic to talk to the caller and give them instructions on how to use the device.

‘I hope it will save hundreds of lives in the next five years’ Momont said.

He hopes drones will be active in his home country of the Netherlands within the next 5 years, they are expected to cost around £16,000 per drone.

Momont’s ambition doesn’t stop there, he hopes the drone can be advanced to increase carrying capacity meaning it could carry a full medics kit and could respond to a wider range of calls. There are a few legal issues surrounding the drone particularly within airspace control; however once the steering and co-ordination is perfected Momont believes this extraordinary device can be implemented into emergency services all over the world.

What are your thoughts?