NEW DELHI, Feb 16: In a trial run, a drone successfully delivered vital medicines to a remote area in the hill state of Uttarakhand. The unmanned vehicle supplied tuberculosis drugs to a health centre in Tehri in the Garhwal district.
The drone airlifted from the All India Institute of Medical Sciences in Rishikesh covered a distance of 40 Km in just 30 minutes, which takes about two hours by road.
The test flight of the drone was conducted to send medicines and other supplies from Rishikesh after samples of Tuberculosis patients were collected from a health centre.
“Supplying medicines will be helpful for patients living in far-off areas of Uttarakhand. We want to create a system where patients suffering from tuberculosis can get medicines, and they don’t have to travel long distances for the treatment,” AIIMS Rishikesh Executive Director, Dr Meenu Singh said. “Drone’s take off is not the only achievement, but the delivery of medicines to remote areas with safety is a bigger achievement,” Dr Singh added.
In Jammu and Kashmir, the Indian Army used drones to supply booster doses of Covid vaccine to forward troops in snow-bound areas. Drones were used in Maharashtra as well to deliver vaccines to remote villages.
(Manas Dasgupta)
