In a first in India, Telangana deploys drones to deliver vaccine & drugs
Have you ever imagined the drone which were used for taking pics are now used to transport medicines.
Yes, it’s been carried out at
VIKARABAD. Around 75 km away from Hyderabad, the clear blue skies of Vikarabad witnessed a historic moment on Saturday as drones buzzed around ferrying precious medical cargo as part of the ‘Medicine from the Sky’ project.
In a first for the country, drones commenced the delivery of life-saving medical supplies, including Covid-19 vaccines, beyond the visual line of sight (BVLOS) range, that is over a distance of 500 metres, in the district.
‘Medicine from the Sky’ is a joint initiative of the Telangana government, World Economic Forum, NITI Aayog, and HealthNet Global (Apollo Hospitals), as part of which eight consortia have been selected to undertake BVLOS flights for delivery of medical essentials to remote areas.
On Saturday, Bluedart Med Express Consortium, Hepicopter Consortium, and CurisFly Consortium demonstrated drone flights.
The ‘Medicine from the Sky’ project will pave the way for drone delivery of life saving medicines and jabs in far-flung regions of the country. “In 16 green zones, drones will be flown as part of the project and the data generated will be analysed in three months to create a model for the entire country,”
“Hepicopter platform, with the current class of drones, can support vaccination in remote areas by transporting about 2,000-5,000 doses of vaccines at 2-8 degrees Celsius in one trip over a straight-line distance of 20-40 km,” a pair of drones can fly around 10 trips every day.
Drone carried 4 kg payload and 200 doses of Covid vaccine, maintaining 2.4 degree Celsius temperature throughout the flight that covered 6.6 km in 15 mins.
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