Nod to delivery of medicines, vax by drones in Telangana
Telangana is set to become one of the first states in the country to allow delivery of medicines via drones after Techeagle — a leading delivery drone start-up — received necessary approvals in this regard. The drones will also deliver vaccines in Telangana.
The move is in collaboration with the Government of Telangana, NITI Aayog and World Economic Forum. Techeagle said its aim was to strengthen the healthcare ecosystem with on-demand and rapid delivery of medicines and vaccines across the country.
“Drones are capable of saving thousands of lives every day by supplying essential medicines on time,” said Vikram Singh Meena, founder and CEO of Techeagle.
“We are working hard to improve billions of lives by providing easy access to healthcare. We are glad that the central and state governments are keen to induct drones to strengthen the healthcare and logistics ecosystem,” Meena said.
Techeagle’s drone will transport vaccines in temperature-controlled boxes from the distribution centre to primary health centres (PHCS) or community health centres and will collect samples on its way back.
The drones can deliver vaccines up to a distance of 70 km and travel at 100 km/hour. It can take off from and land on an area of 3mx3m.
Meena said safety and security were of paramount importance and to achieve this, the company has built drones with precision navigation, detect and avoid for manned and unmanned aviation. The process also involves redundant communication, real-time monitoring and extreme weather handling capabilities and autonomous parachute for ultimate failsafe.
“Our drones are fully capable of safe and reliable BVLOS (beyond visual line of sight) flights for package delivery,” said Singh. Anshu Abhishek, cofounder and chief operating officer of Techeagle, said the ongoing pandemic presented a unique opportunity to integrate unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVS) into the country’s existing healthcare system to ensure longterm resilience. “The Ministry of Civil Aviation, DGCA (Directorate General of Civil Aviation), AAI (Airports Authority of India) and others are working hand-inhand with industry members to enable drones for the masses,” said Abhishek.
Earlier this week, Google-backed delivery and e-commerce firm Dunzo Digital said it was leading a Med Air consortium, along with industry experts, to conduct experimental BVLOS (Below Visual Line of Sight) drone delivery flights for the ‘Medicine from the Sky Project’. The aim is to help improve access to healthcare during the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic. Officials said the project will help boost medicine supplies to different districts in Telangana. The impetus will be on enabling emergency medical supplies which could include Covid-19 vaccines.