To strengthen its fight against COVID-19, Telangana has now received one-year conditional permission to use drones for vaccine delivery in remote areas under its ‘Medicine from the Sky’ project. A trial of the project will begin in early May from the Vikarabad Area Hospital. By Kumar Shree
Telangana becomes the first state in India to get permission from the Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) and Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) to deploy drones for delivering vaccines in remote areas.
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Eight selected start-ups will participate in the 24-day trial to deliver vaccine packages for six days each. These start-ups will work in four batches of two consortia. They will also get a week to conduct an on-ground recce before beginning the programme.
Each of these drones in the trial run will carry a combination of regular vaccines and dummy vials. Their performances will be recorded to collect data that will help plan policies regarding the full-scale adoption of the programme.
As reported by the Times of India, Jayesh Ranjan, Principal Secretary (industries) said, “Telangana is determined to leverage emerging technologies in the healthcare industry, and the usage of drones ensures that primary healthcare is accessible in even remote areas. The MFTS trials would yield important information on the reliability of drones and their adoption in medical deliveries.”
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The state government has put together a team of nodal officers to support this initiative. The district administration has also been asked to plan the on-ground operations.
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