New Delhi, Aug 15 : A Bengaluru-based startup on Monday unveiled an initial pilot project that will use drones to offer top-quality healthcare to rural and tribal communities in Arunachal Pradesh. The project will be carried out in Seppa the town in East Kameng District of Arunachal Pradesh, which is run by Redwing Labs, a startup Redwing Labs, which will assist in the delivery of medical supplies eight times faster than the road-based logistics.
Redwing Labs would provide aMade in India hybrid Vertical Take-off and Landing (VTOL) drones, and would run all-inclusive operations for the project.
The network of healthcare drones is currently being created on an experimental basis to pilot the use of drones for aerial healthcare delivery in the state.
The network will enable the provision of diagnostics and emergency services in the state’s local health centers.
“We hope that this study will provide tangible data on the cost and supply chain behavior with drones in public health to help kick-start widespread adoption.
We are extremely thankful to USAID’s SAMRIDH initiative and the World Economic Forum for their assistance in this endeavor,” said Anshul Sharma Co-Founder and CEO of Redwing Labs in a statement.
India has begun pilots and trials of drone-based delivery in health care in 2021.
A number of states, like Telangana, Nagaland, Manipur, Meghalaya, Odisha and Uttarakhand have carried out pilot flights and tests.
Drones can carry multiple health products, including essential medicines, vaccines as well as diagnostic tests.
Aerial supply chains hold enormous potential to resolve last-mile health problems and help improve SDG-3 in rural semi-urban, tribal, and rural areas.
Through facilitating health care at the level of the individual The drone network is designed to reduce the cost of out-of-pocket expenses (OOPE) for patients, improve immunisation rates and boost welfare outcomes.
This network of experimentation will be followed by an impact evaluation study to determine the value-for-money as well as health impact of the use of drones in India’s public health system.
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