An autonomous drone helped save the life of a 71-year-old boy in cardiac arrest in Sweden.
About three and a half minutes had passed between the first call for help via the emergency number and the arrival of the drone, said patient Sven, who did not want to disclose his full name, on Friday.
In addition to the drone, the emergency doctors also sent an ambulance when Sven collapsed while shoveling snow in Trollhattan in December.
By a lucky coincidence, the doctor Mustafa Ali also came by.
He stopped and started cardiopulmonary resuscitation.
The doctor was on site when the drone arrived with a defibrillator that could restart the heart.
The drone "really helped," said the doctor.
Together with cardiopulmonary resuscitation, it is useful to save lives.
The drone could prove particularly useful for patients who live far from a hospital.
The defibrillator was lowered to the patient with a winch.
So the drone didn't have to land.
200,000 people reachable in Sweden
The use of medical drones is part of an experiment by Everdrone in the Gothenburg area.
The Center for Resuscitation Science and the Medical University of Karolinska Institutet, the SOS Alarm emergency service and the Vastra Gotaland health authority are involved.
According to its own statements, Everdrone can currently reach around 200,000 people in Sweden.
The unmanned missile could be equipped with further medical material in the future.
Everdrone boss Mats Sallstrom said that this technology could also be used to reach islands or places "where it is difficult to get to at all".
The choice fell on the defibrillator because this device is so much about saving time.