From rockets at Dulwich College to drones for the NHS. Former pupils drive innovation with drone delivery service

Drones are now being used to deliver blood samples between Guy’s and St Thomas’ hospitals thanks to an innovative project led by the company Apian, founded in 2020 by two former pupils of Dulwich College. Hammad Jeilani and Christopher Law who left the College in 2016, founded the company during their time as junior doctors. “I am from Afghanistan, my parents fled the war. Growing up I saw how we use drones to deliver death and destruction. I wondered why we couldn’t use the same sophisticated technology to deliver blood and vital medical equipment instead,” says Dr Jeilani, speaking to the BBC in a recent interview.

Through the introduction of the drone courier service, transport timings will be cut by roughly 93% which can be vital when treating patients with bleeding disorders whose samples can be transported between London hospitals in two minutes rather than a 30-minute journey by van or motorbike. The lightweight commercial drones can also help to reduce carbon emissions compared with the use of standard, non-electric cars.

After almost two years in the planning to accommodate the clinical drones, the Civil Aviation Authority and Nats, the air traffic management service, have opened up a flight path for the service in London’s busy and highly secure airspace.

Their pioneering idea led to Boots in 2022, becoming the first community pharmacy in the country to transport prescriptions on medical drone deliveries to rural areas of the UK when it flew the first prescription medicine from Portsmouth to the Isle of Wight.

Hammad and Christopher’s trailblazing spirit was evident at Dulwich College when they co-founded the Rocketry Society!