Advancing Smart City Healthcare Logistics: Cost-Benefit and Cost-Effectiveness of UAV-Based Medicine Delivery in Makassar, Indonesia

Advancing Smart City Healthcare Logistics: Cost-Benefit and Cost-Effectiveness of UAV-Based Medicine Delivery in Makassar, Indonesia | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article Advancing Smart City Healthcare Logistics: Cost-Benefit and Cost-Effectiveness of UAV-Based Medicine Delivery in Makassar, Indonesia Husain Muhammad Asrul, Baharuddin Hamzah, Lucky Caroles This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-9033297/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Rapid urbanization in Makassar hampers the achievement of SDG 3 on healthcare access due to pharmacy congestion. This study assesses the economic and operational feasibility of medical delivery using Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs). QGIS-based spatial analysis and an economic evaluation approach using secondary data on variables related to drone-based logistics were used to analyze data against a baseline of delivery services and motorcycle-based personal use. A potential hub, the sub-district office, served as the baseline variable for all three models evaluated. Results showed drone delivery achieved a B/C ratio of 11.795, significantly outperforming ground alternatives while reducing the average delivery time from 40 minutes to approximately 8 minutes. Drones demonstrated superior carbon efficiency (0.315 kg CO2eq/km) and remained economically resilient under a sensitivity test to a 50% price spike. Despite these advantages, implementation must consider the lack of local regulations and potential ecological impacts on bird migration routes. Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) Medical Logistics Healthcare Access economic evaluation drone logistic Full Text Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-9033297","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":611032326,"identity":"b8475e8b-a9ee-4083-9e73-9a2bdc13cb30","order_by":0,"name":"Husain Muhammad Asrul","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAAA4ElEQVRIiWNgGAWjYBACAxCRAGYyNz4Akjx8JGhhbAZxeNiI0gIBjG0SIIqgFnOJ9IcfHu6wszefkdhW+TXHToaNgfnhoxt4tFjOyDGWSDyTnDjnRmLbbdltyUCHsRkb5+Bz2I0cBonENuYECSB5W3IbM1ALD5s0fi3pj38kttXbg7QUS26rJ0ZLghlQ8WHGGUCS8eO2w0RoOfPGzCKx7XjiDJ6HzdKM247zsDET8svx9Mc3f7ZV20uwJx/8+HNbtT0/e/PDx/i0oABmHjBJrHIQYPxBiupRMApGwSgYMQAAP7hFsGH4Ef4AAAAASUVORK5CYII=","orcid":"","institution":"Hasanuddin University","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Husain","middleName":"Muhammad","lastName":"Asrul","suffix":""},{"id":611032328,"identity":"50d19be3-ff92-4523-ab23-2d28150892b8","order_by":1,"name":"Baharuddin Hamzah","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Hasanuddin University","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Baharuddin","middleName":"","lastName":"Hamzah","suffix":""},{"id":611032329,"identity":"00c23ddc-03f6-4458-9d1c-a573ea982159","order_by":2,"name":"Lucky Caroles","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Hasanuddin University","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Lucky","middleName":"","lastName":"Caroles","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2026-03-04 19:08:26","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":"","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-9033297/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-9033297/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":106010945,"identity":"8fcc2702-4626-4b57-a6d9-b4f90cdc173f","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2026-04-02 11:42:34","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":872561,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"Manuscript.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-9033297/v1_covered_0da970ae-6acc-4d06-8a60-9582e65a50f8.pdf"}],"financialInterests":"No competing interests reported.","formattedTitle":"Advancing Smart City Healthcare Logistics: Cost-Benefit and Cost-Effectiveness of UAV-Based Medicine Delivery in Makassar, Indonesia","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":false,"hideJournal":true,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":false,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true},"keywords":"Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), Medical Logistics, Healthcare Access, economic evaluation, drone logistic","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-9033297/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-9033297/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"\u003cp\u003eRapid urbanization in Makassar hampers the achievement of SDG 3 on healthcare access due to pharmacy congestion. 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