A vertiplane X3 drone took 36 minutes to deliver 1.5 kg of medicines to a primary health centre.
The air delivery of 1.5 kg of medicines to a remote location marked the unveiling of India’s first drone station for transporting drugs at the Jengjal Subdivisional Hospital in Meghalaya’s West Garo Hills district on Monday.
“This drone has a capacity of flying with a payload of up to 4 kg”, Ramkumar S, Additional Secretary of Health and Family Welfare said.
“We now have two drones meant for the delivery of vaccines, medicines and emergency kits. But we will use bigger drones from March next year. They will have a capacity to carry a payload of 20-25 kg,” he added.
For the time being, the Health Department has planned five to eight sorties every day to five health centres in three districts.
“For a car, it will take about three and half hours for the round trip to Pedaldoba from Jengjal. The drone will do it much faster,” Ramkumar said.
“There are some red zones and our plan is to have three drone stations so we can cover more inaccessible areas. The delivery of medicines using drones is not just cost-effective but it also saves time,” he added.
Inaugurating the drone station, Health Minister James Sangma said the service is “unparalleled”.
“I had my doubts but Anshu and his team pulled it off. This is a matter of great pride not just for this area but the entire state. We have become the first state which is going to institutionalise it,” Sangma said.
He said it was a beautiful example of how technology could be leveraged to bring about better healthcare services to people.
The Jengjal Sub-divisional Hospital has a modern lab and Dr Denyl Joshua of the facility said the drones would help bring diagnostic samples, blood units from the far-flung areas for tests.
The Pedaldoba PHC, located on the Assam-Meghalaya border, is one of the remotest areas of West Garo Hills. It has five health sub-centres which were virtually inaccessible till last year.