Explained: What is the medicine from the sky project of Telangana? 

Medicine from the sky project: Of late, the medicine from the sky project was launched by Union Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia and Telangana’s Minister for Industries and Information Technology, K. T. Rama Rao in Telangana’s Vikarabad district. The project has been launched by the government to deliver medicines, vaccines, units of blood, organs for transplantation and lifesaving equipment to remote areas of India through drones. 

#WATCH | Telangana: The 'Medicine from the Sky' project, which will help deliver medicines and vaccines to remote areas with the help of drones, was launched in Vikarabad today.

It can carry four types of boxes and each of these boxes can maintain a different temperature. pic.twitter.com/45VHSMiKPa

— ANI (@ANI) September 11, 2021

Key Highlights: 

1- With the launch of the medicine from the sky project, Telangana became the first state in the country to embark on Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLoS) flights using the identified airspace of the Vikarabad district. 

2- The project is a collaboration between the Telangana government, World Economic Forum and HealthNet Global and NITI Ayog. 

3- The project aims to assess the robustness and reliability of the drone delivery system using payloads of different sizes. 

4- The drone delivery system will assist the policymakers in analyzing the opportunities and challenges of the drone delivery system as well as competing delivery models and technologies.

5- The drones can cover a distance of 6km in just five minutes to reach a PHC.

6- According to the people familiar with the development, the system will be ramped up in six other Indian states in the coming months. 

The liberalised #DroneRules2021 have already opened the floodgates of innovation! Visiting Vikarabad, Telangana to launch the pathbreaking “Medicine from the Sky Project” where drones will be used to transport vaccines to remote areas. #DroneRevolutionBegins
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— Jyotiraditya M. Scindia (@JM_Scindia) September 8, 2021

What is the medicine from the sky project?

The medicine from the sky project will be undertaken on a pilot basis in 16 green zones and the data will be analyzed for three months by Health Ministry, IT Ministry, state and central government. Based on this data, the medicine delivery system will be scaled up to the national level. 

Eight consortia are a part of the project. Of these three consortia namely Bluedart Med Express Consortium (Skye Air), Hepicopter Consortium (Marut Drones), and CurisFly Consortium (TechEagle Innovations) reached Vikarabad and conducted test flights of their drones via VLOS and BVLOS.

Drone technology and its scope in India

Over the years, drones have been used for mapping, photography, videography and more but the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has widened the scope. The technology has been described as a revolution and India as its leader. 

The new drone policy by the Government of India has eased the rules regarding the drone operations in India and has significantly reduced the number of forms to be filled to operate them from earlier 25 to 5 along with reducing the types of the fee charged from the operator from 72 to 4.

Private sector and start-up firms, through a collaboration with the state government, can be integrated into the government healthcare systems to ensure timely efforts to save life as compared to the traditional delivery systems. 

Thus, the drone technology to deliver medicines will prove to be a game-changer due to advancements in aerial technology, favourable government policy, and positive mindset of people. Both the government and private players will learn from the experience which in turn will enable them to take the industry forward. 

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