In a first in the country, the Meghalaya government has used drones to deliver medicines to a remote primary health centre in West Khasi Hils district of the state.
“Today we launched a pilot of India’s 1st Medicine Delivery via Hybrid e-VTOL drone in #Meghalaya from Nongstoin to Maweit PHC covering a distance of 25 kms in less than 25 mins,” Chief Minister Conrad Sangam said in a tweet on Friday.
Ready for a challenge? Click here to take our quiz and show off your knowledge!
“Drone technology can change the future of healthcare. This is a unique project that will transform the healthcare supply chain to a hard-to-reach population,” Sangma said.
Drone technology can change the future of healthcare. Today we launched a pilot of India’s 1st Medicine Delivery via Hybrid e-VTOL drone in #Meghalaya from Nongstoin to Maweit PHC covering a distance of 25 Kms in less than 25 mins@narendramodi @mansukhmandviya @JM_Scindia pic.twitter.com/XbWPLAqGa5
— Conrad Sangma (@SangmaConrad) November 26, 2021
Ready for a challenge? Click here to take our quiz and show off your knowledge!
He said that the tech support was provided by the innovation team Tech Eagle, Smart Village Movement in collaboration with the State Health department. Sources said an e-VTOL (Virtual take-off and landing ) Drone AquilaX2 was used for the deliveries.
According to a health department official, the deployment of a drone to deliver medicines was undertaken on a pilot basis and today’s deployment was successful, reducing the time from 3 hours to less than half an hour.