Meghalaya Government Starts Drone Service to Deliver Medicines in Remote Areas

SHILLONG: The Meghalaya government has initiated the use of drones to deliver medicines in remote primary health centre in West Khasi Hils district of Meghalaya.

With this Meghalaya becomes the first state in India to commence such service.

"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 Sangma said in a tweet on Friday.

"This is a unique project that will transform the healthcare supply chain to hard-to-reach population. Great teamwork by tech and innovation team @TechEagle_IN and @MovementSmart and the State Health Department," the minister added.

As per the 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.

Earlier, the Indian government has launched ICMR's Drone response and Outreach initiative (i-Drone) to the North East, allowing efficient and responsible delivery of life-saving vaccines in tough and hard-to-reach terrains.

Notably, as of now, permissions have only been granted for drone-based deliveries in the state of Manipur and Nagaland, as well as the union territory of Andaman and Nicobar Island.

The drone was able to successfully deliver vaccines over an aerial distance of 15 kilometres in a matter of 12 to 15 minutes from Bishnupur district hospital to Loktak lake, Karang island in Manipur for administration at the PHC. Distance between the two locations by road is 26 kilometres long and would otherwise take at least an hour. 

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