Autonomous Drones To Deliver Medicines In Maharashtra Soon
A Silicon Valley firm has tied up with Maharashtra to make on-demand and emergency deliveries of drugs and medical products.
Medications, including vaccines and blood products, would be delivered via drones in Maharashtra by next year.
The Maharashtra government has partnered with Zipline, a logistics company, to make on-demand and emergency deliveries of such products. The initiative will be supported by the Serum Institute of India.
For the purpose, two distribution centres will be established in Pune and Nandurbar in the first phase—which may soon be scaled up to 10 in the next few years.
To increase access and reduce medical waste, blood products, vaccines and medications will be stored at these centres for just-in-time delivery. Health workers will place orders by text message or call and receive deliveries within 30 minutes on average. Deliveries will be made with the drone descending to a safe height above the ground and releasing the medicine box by parachute.
The drones can take off from and land at the distribution centres, requiring no additional infrastructure or manpower. They can fly autonomously, carrying up to 1.8 kilograms of cargo at speeds of 110 kilometres per hour—even in winds and rain.
Each of the two distribution centres will cover a delivery area of over 20,000 sq km and serve up to 20 million people.
Watch the video to know how drone delivery will help the people of Pune and Nandurbar: