Indian government’s recent reports on covid vaccination of the country is pretty impressive, which recently claims that it had administered doses for around 90 crore people in the country. Now the country’s apex medical body ICMR has been using drones to deliver vaccines in high altitude and highly congested areas. This is actually the first initiative carried out by any government and first time in Southeast Asia to do so.
Flying Drones Comes Into Action
A drone delivered vaccines to people living in Manipur’s ‘floating islands’ in Loktak Lake, making India the first nation in Southeast Asia to send vaccines in an unmanned aerial craft. ‘Floating islands’ are chunks of hardened algae that float in the freshwater lake in Manipur’s Moirang district.
ICMR successfully delivered the jabs from Manipur’s Bishnupur via Loktak Lake to the Karang Island. Officials plan to deliver vaccines to two more districts of Manipur with drones in the coming days. And what is more considerable is that the drones used for the purpose will give a boost to the ‘Make in India’ initiative.
Health Minister Says A Big Boost To Make In India
The fully ‘Made-in-India’ drone flew from the Bishnupur District Hospital in automatic mode and reached the Karang Health Centre, nearly 31 km away, in just 15 minutes. And if the same journey is traversed by roads it could last up to 4 hours long, says the ICMR.
“Addressed launch of ICMR’s initiative for ‘drone-based vaccine delivery system’ in North-Eastern India. Covering 31 km in 15 minutes, vaccines were transported from Bishnupur District Hospital to Karang Health Centre, Loktak Lake, Manipur. This distance usually takes 3-4 hours,” Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya tweeted. This drone technology will speed up the last mile deliveries of healthcare supplies of the state with great ease.
