Jengjal, Dec 5: The air was filled with the buzzing and blaring sounds of the rotor blades as the first drone flight for medical duty took off into the skies from Jengjal Sub Divisional Hospital on Monday, making this a historic moment in healthcare for the entire Garo Hills region.
The first flight of the drone was flagged off by Meghalaya Health Minister James Pangsang K Sangma in the presence of World Bank officials, medical officers and doctors and bureaucrats marking December 5, 2022, as a red letter day in the annals of medical care for Garo Hills.
The first flight of the drone from Jengjal hospital was to distant Pedaldoba health centre, an aerial distance of 36 kms, that took only 30 minutes to reach.
Life saving vaccines of anti-Rabies and anti-Venom for snake bites was successfully delivered by the high tech drone which also created another historic feat of flying back at night to its base station in Jengjal using satellite navigation.
“The starting of drone flights is a game changer in the field of medical care,” said the Health Minister on the historic occasion.
“A delivery of crucial medicine by road would normally take 3 hours or more, whereas the drone was able to do it in 30 minutes. We are aiming to ensure faster medical care across the state. New initiatives in the health sector are coming up which we hope to develop with the help of the World Bank,” informed James.
Integrated Health Complex at Jengjal
Another initiative of the government is an upcoming super specialist Integrated Health Complex at Jengjal which will be at par with some of the country’s top medical centres, consisting of state-of-the-art diagnostic system, Maternity care and isolation wards in the event of a pandemic.
The state government has been in awe of the medical care being provided at its sub-division hospital in Jengjal by the medical team from the Adventist Mission Society whose doctors hail from one of India’s best known hospitals – CMC Vellore.
The new integrated Health Complex will be handed over to the CMC Vellore doctors to run once it is opened.
“Every necessary paper works have been cleared and we expect the construction to start by early January of next year. The hospital should be up and running by the end of next year,” informed an optimistic Ram Kumar S, Mission Director of National Health Mission and Secretary of Health in the state government.
High points of Meghalaya’s first Drone Station at Jengjal
* All rural health centres within radius of 50 km will be covered by aerial flights.
* 25 health centres in remote areas to get serviced by the drone station.
* Routine and emergency deliveries of medical items like vaccines, medicines, diagnostic samples, blood units to be taken by flight.
* Number of flights per day to be from 5 to 8 depending on the demand.
5 PHCs, namely Mendipather, Shallang , Samanda, Pedaldoba and Nangalbibra, are the first rural health centres that are being covered by the Jengjal Drone Station.
* Drone project to ultimately cover entore state. 20 facilities are being finalised.
* Future plans include using the drones for non medical and emergency purposes.
