There is urgency for the public and private sectors to collaborate on drone applications to improve healthcare equity in rural areas of the country. The launch of the World Economic Forum’s Medicine from the Sky initiative in September last year in Telangana was a historic first in this direction.
The initiative set off a policy discussion for further liberalisation of the drone rules in India and opened new avenues for use across healthcare.
The release of the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) guidelines for drone use in the healthcare sector will pave the way for scaling up the initiative, especially in the geographically difficult terrains in the country.
The ICMR guidelines are based on an October 2021 pilot project conducted in Manipur and Nagaland, where Covid-19 vaccines, vaccines for routine immunisation programmes such as measles, mumps and rubella, antenatal care medicines, multivitamins, syringes and gloves were delivered.
The guidelines were released during the Bharat Drone Mahotsav 2022 in Delhi. These were based on field experience, which included an indigenous drone transporting Covid-19 vaccines in 12-15 minutes over an aerial distance of 15 kilometres from Manipur’s Bishnupur district hospital to a primary health centre in Loktak lake, Karang island.
The guidelines, which were preceded by the New Drone Rules, 2021 — lauded for making it cheaper and easier to operate drones — detail the regulatory approvals required to carry out such projects, what type of drones will be needed as well as what the ideal take-off and landing sites should be. “On the policy, regulatory and incentive fronts, the Government has simplified the process as much as possible,” Amber Dubey, Joint Secretary, Union Ministry of Civil Aviation, told Blitz India.
Many progressive state governments are now coming up with budgetary grants and tenders for drone services. The drone industry is designing customised drones that meet the terrain and weather related challenges in different states, especially the hill states and the northeast region.
The Covid-19 pandemic has highlighted fissures in the healthcare supply chain across the world and India is no exception.
As per Our World in Data, 72.61 per cent of the population has either fully or partially completed their vaccination protocol as of June 2. WEF’s Medicine from the Sky initiative is an ongoing programme which aims to bridge this gap.
Only 30,000 Government-run primary healthcare centres cater to nearly 1.4 billion people in the country.
Moreover, 5-10 per cent of these are not accessible to the suppliers and patients because of difficult terrain. This highlights the need to ensure lastmile delivery of essential treatments, vaccines and other medical supplies.
“Drones have tremendous potential to deliver vital goods to vulnerable populations, overcoming access barriers and enabling faster delivery of lifesaving medicine. However, concerns about privacy, safety and security have overshadowed the potential of drones to transform legacy industries and systems,” the World Economic Forum WEF noted in a statement.
Taking lessons from the drone delivery efforts in Ghana and Rwanda for medical supplies, 300 vaccines were delivered to remote areas in Telangana under the Medicine from the Sky initiative.
Over a 45-day trial, healthcare professionals delivered vaccines, Covid-19 testing samples and medical products to a population of over 300,000 people, covered by eight healthcare centres in Telangana.
The initiative is now expanding to other parts of the region, particularly the Himalayan belt where isolated communities will be served using drones.
Medicine from the Sky has been instrumental not just in paving the way for last-mile drone projects in India, but also for the greater liberalisation of aviation policy in the country.
