Imphal, Oct 5: In a bid to deliver COVID-19 vaccine to the remote areas in its hilly terrain, Manipur has introduced drones with the first unmanned aerial craft delivering vaccines to a floating island at the Loktak lake on Monday (Oct 4, 2021) making India first in South-East Asia to do so.
‘Floating islands’ are chunks of hardened algae that float in the freshwater lake in Manipur’s Moirang district.
The country’s top medical body ICMR successfully delivered the jabs from Manipur’s Bhishnupur via Loktak Lake to the Karang Island.
“We have plans to deliver vaccines to two more districts of Manipur with drones in the coming days,” said an official.
4 hours journey covered in 15 minutes
Marred with poor connectivity, Manipur in North-East shares borders with neighbouring country Myanmar and has several pockets in the hilly areas that is hard to access for the medical officials carrying the vaccines and other medical equipment.
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. By road, this journey is almost 4-hour long.
Drones for last mile delivery of healthcare supplies
Drones can be helpful because the vaccines need to be kept at a certain temperature and prologed exposure to fluctuating temperature may damage it which is why health care workers have to carry storage units along with them. With its introduction, these can be sent to certain locations where health care workers will already be stationed and put in the jab the moment it teaches.
“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.
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. pic.twitter.com/HuNwnMaMyC
— Mansukh Mandaviya (@mansukhmandviya) October 4, 2021
The drone technology will speed up the last mile deliveries of healthcare supplies, the minister said. “Along with vaccine transportation, drone technology would speed up healthcare-related supply to the last mile and expand the supply scope of life-saving & emergency medicines,” he tweeted.
“Vaccines have been delivered today. Tomorrow, lifesaving drugs can be delivered through drones in critical medical situation. Pesticides and urea can be sprayed by this,” Mandaviya added.
Manipur’s Karang area, inhabited by about 3,500 people, has fully vaccinated 30% of its population. “Under the vaccination campaign, despite all the difficulties, India will soon touch the 100-crore vaccination milestone. Now, we are using technology to make the difficult roads easier,” the health minister said.
