A technical-operational partnership agreement has been signed between SIS 118, UrbanV and D-Flight – an ENAV Group company – for the launch of the Sanitary Emergency Urban Air Mobility (SEUAM) project in Italy.
The SEUAM experimental project, conceived and coordinated by Dr. Mario Balzanelli, National President of SIS 118, was created with the aim of significantly reducing the response times of the Territorial Emergency System 118 in cases of sudden cardiac arrest, haemorrhagic shock, anaphylactic shock, acute toxicity or other health emergencies where there is imminent danger of loss of life.
“Today, sadly, we see that drones bring death. The time has come for them to bring life, here in Italy and around the world,” Balzanelli said.
The project uses drones capable of transporting defibrillators, blood products, lifesaving medications and medical devices directly to the scene of the emergency, under real-time control from the 118 operations centres.
UrbanV will design and manage the dedicated drone infrastructure and systems for the control and safety of operations. D-Flight will provide technical support for the safe and efficient integration of drones into the airspace, defining priority procedures to ensure priority for drones used in emergency scenarios over other air traffic, both manned and unmanned, in the area of operations, as well as support for the authorisation process for operations.
The initiative, in its experimental phase that runs from 2025 to 2028, will involve flight tests in participating municipalities, including Altomonte, Santa Lucia di Serino, Massa di Somma, Pizzo Calabro, Laterza, Rosciano, and Trebisacce.
The SEUAM project is part of the broader Change in the Time Dependence of Emergency programme, promoted by SIS 118, and aims to become a reference model that can be replicated at national and international level.
Once the trial is complete, the results will be shared with the relevant authorities to assess the potential for incorporating drones into future health emergency protocols.
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