Sevrey/Montceau-les-Mines. This is a first in Burgundy Franche-Comté: a medical transport drone has taken flight.

20 minutes instead of 38 minutes by road, that's how long it took Delivrone's medical drone this Thursday morning to reach the Sevrey CHS (Health and Social Services Center) to the Jean-Bouveri hospital in Montceau-les-Mines for its first test flight of the day. This is a first in Bourgogne Franche-Comté - but not in France - for the transport of blood samples to laboratories. This medical drone is undergoing qualification testing on May 15, 16, and 26 between the Sevrey and Montceau hospitals before its deployment between Sevrey and Chalon-sur-Saône, then Chalon and Montceau-les-Mines. And, later, in Bresse and Morvan.

The objective of the Saône-et-Loire Bresse Morvan Territorial Hospital Group (GHT): to obtain medical analysis results more quickly, reduce hospitals' carbon footprint, and also combat medical desertification. "Because for the moment, we're dealing with blood samples, but later on, we can hope to transport chemotherapy bags closer to patients instead of having them come to Chalon, where these bags are produced," explains Laurent Rathouis, engineer responsible for the biomedical department at the Chalon-sur-Saône hospital and project leader.