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RALEIGH, N.C. — At a sprawling hospital campus here, drones are becoming the new medical couriers.

Blood and urine samples are ferried through the air to a central pathology lab, partly replacing the costly courier routes on the ground.

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“It’s just a highly inefficient system because of the realities of health care delivery,” said Dr. Stuart Ginn, the medical director of WakeMed Innovations, part of the WakeMed health system. “The reality is we often don’t know what we need and when we need it, all of our needs are based around our patient’s needs.”

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