1Muhammad Yazid SAHAK, 2Nikram SUBRAMANIAM, 3Siti Norida WAHAB, 4Ezutah Udoncy OLUGU and 5Bolajoko Elizabeth OTEGBAYO
1,2 Health Facility Planning Section, Planning Division, Ministry of Health, Sungai Buloh, 47000 Selangor Darul Ehsan, Malaysia
3 Department of Logistics Management, Faculty of Business and Management, UCSI University, 56000, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
4 Faculty of Engineering, Technology and Build Environment, UCSI University, 56000, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
5 Department of Preventive Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Malaya, 50603 Kuala Lumpur.
This paper explores the application of drones in the Malaysian healthcare supply chain during the COVID-19 pandemic and proposes strategies by identifying issues and challenges faced. A detailed literature review was conducted from a leading database to understand in detail the role of drones as a solution to the healthcare supply chain disruption during the COVID-19 pandemic. This study found several challenges such as limited technical capability, strict government regulation, need for a 5G network, high cost, and limited drone capabilities. Therefore, this study proposed strategies to mitigate these challenges which include investment in tertiary education, government legislation improvement, expedite 5G network adoption, collaboration with NGOs to reduce cost burden, and provide drones with multi-functionality. The findings of this study have significant implications and contributions to the body of knowledge relevant to drone technology and the healthcare supply chain. Specifically, the findings uncover challenges faced by the healthcare supply chain industry during the COVID-19 pandemic. Practically, the findings from this study may increase the understanding and awareness about the importance of drones and challenges among the key players (e.g. education, government, private sector, user, and manufacture). The study eneded with recommendations for future studies.