Shillong: Creating history in the health care field, Made in India drone delivered medicines in the hilly area of Meghalaya. After Manipur and Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya also initiated the drone delivery mode of medicines to remote locations. The Meghalaya government, in partnership with startup TechEagle, has created Asia’s first drone delivery hub and network, which is aimed at providing universal access to healthcare for the people in the state residing in the rugged terrain, a Meghalaya spokesperson informed.
The Meghalaya government and TechEagle have executed the project. It is aimed at delivering vital supplies like drugs, diagnostic samples, vaccines, blood and blood components quickly and safely to the rugged terrain of the hilly state using a dedicated drone delivery network.
On Monday (December 5, 2022), the first official drone flight took off from Jengjal Sub Divisional Hospital, which will act as the drone delivery hub. Delivered medicines to Padeldoba primary health centre in less than 30 minutes, which would otherwise have taken 2.5 hours by road, a press release by TechEagle said.
According to the tech startup, TechEagle’s Vertiplane X3 Drone delivered different healthcare products on its first flight, five times faster than ground transportation. Meghalaya Drone Delivery Network (MDDN) and hub in Phase 1 is a combination of one central hub and 25 spokes (supply chain nodes) in a radius of 50 kilometres, where the drone hub at Jengal hospital will act as the centre point. MDDN would bring universal access to healthcare for 2.7 million people of Meghalaya, the state government claims.
Once fully functional, drone delivery mode will overcome the problem of lack of visibility, high delivery costs and inaccessibility through roads and railway networks. Earlier in October 2021, the Manipur Government also delivered Covid 19 vaccines to people living in Manipur’s ‘floating islands’ in Loktak Lake, making India the first nation in Southeast Asia to send vaccines in an unmanned aerial craft. On November 14 2022, Arunachal Pradesh also delivered medicines through UAV. In a remarkable feat, the first delivery of treatment in the East Kameng district through a drone service was successfully conducted. This initiative by Arunachal Pradesh will drastically reduce the time and turmoil in moments of medical necessity in the state’s remote regions.
