Chhattisgarh, a State grappling with infrastructural and security challenges in the remote tribal areas, may soon have drones at the forefront of healthcare delivery.
A demonstration of flying blood samples from the Udaipur Community Health Centre (CHC) to Rajmata Smt. Devendra Kumari Singhdeo Government Medical College, was conducted on Monday. The college is one of the 25 medical colleges picked by the government of India for a pilot project involving the use of drones to access populations residing in the far flung areas of the country.
In Monday’s trial, the drone successfully transported blood samples and operation theatre culture samples covering 40 kilometres, maintaining the cold chain temperature during the flight that was operated by a Bangalore-based company registered with the Drone Federation of India, the apex body of drone fliers. Three more such trials, involving as many vendors are slated to happen in the next few days [two of them on Wednesday], and depending on the superiority, the project will be assigned, said officials. The successful trials will then determine the launch of a pilot project and eventual rollout, they added.
