Uttarakhand: The All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) of Uttarakhand on Thursday started medicines delivery through drones in the remote portions of the hilly areas of the state. The first medicine delivery through drone was set out by AIIMS Professor Meenu Singh and officials of the drone company.
The officials sent a three kg medicine packet to the New Tehri area of the state and the drone reached the designated area in 29 minutes and delivered the medicine available to the patient. The program was inaugurated by Professor Meenu Singh, Director of AIIMS, and Gaurav Kumar, Officer of the drone manufacturing company.
Speaking to the media, Professor Meenu Singh said, "AIIMS is already using the road route to send medicines to the inaccessible areas of the hilly regions. But sometimes it takes a lot of time to deliver medicines by road. That's why this technique has been started to save time through drones. As a first trial, the drone was sent to different areas of the hilly region. After the successful trial, a three kg medicine packet was sent to the patient in New Tehri."
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Singh further said, "Efforts are on to ensure that medicines can be easily delivered to any corner of the state. AIIMS Rishikesh is the first AIIMS in the country, where the facility of delivery of medicines through drones has been started. So far no such facility is available in any AIIMS."
Gaurav Kumar, a member of the drone technical team said, "The drone can fly up to 80 kilometres at a time." Currently, the drone has covered a maximum distance of 42 kilometres in hilly areas. It left for Tehri with medicines from AIIMS Rishikesh and reached there within 29 minutes. The aerial distance of Tehri is 44 km from AIIMS Rishikesh and the road distance is 75 km.
