PremiumNEW DELHI : Logistic service provider Blue Dart, which is part of the ‘Medicine from the Sky’ consortium, is working with the Telangana government to operate an experimental Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) for delivery of vaccines and emergency medical supplies, the company said in a statement on Thursday.
"Blue Dart Med-Express Drone flights will deploy an immersive delivery model to optimize the current healthcare logistics within Telangana," the company said.
Premium Premium "The model will enable deliveries from district medical stores and blood banks to Primary Health Centers (PHCs), Community Health Centres (CHCs), Blood Storage Units & further from PHCs/CHCs to Central Diagnostic laboratories," it added.
Blue Dart Med-Express Consortium is part of the ‘Medicine from the Sky’ project along with the Government of Telangana, World Economic Forum, Niti Aayog and Healthnet Global.
The central government had last week granted conditional exemption to the Telangana government to conduct Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) experimental deployment of drones to conduct delivery of covid-19 vaccines.
The trials for this are likely to commence from the end of May 2021.
The first stage for drone deployment requires drones to remain in the line of sight of the operator at all times. If the first stage is deemed successful, then the next stage of trials involve operating the drone beyond the line of sight of the operator. If these stages are successfully completed, further clearance is sought from the authorities, Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) and Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA).
“The consortium aims at enabling safer, efficient and cost-effective Drone delivery flights. With efficient systems in place, it can help reduce the current logistics cost, making the healthcare logistics faster and efficient," said Ketan Kulkarni, CMO (chief marketing officer) and head of business development, Blue Dart.
"This project is one of the first such programs in the country where multiple drones would fly BVLOS to establish their value proposition for the healthcare supply chain. The vision is to ensure healthcare equity for rural areas," added Jayesh Ranjan, Principal Secretary, ITE&C Department, Government of Telangana.
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