The following report is from Smart Cities World:
Arunachal Pradesh, north-east India, is undertaking a drone delivery of medicines pilot in a bid to improve last-mile delivery of medicines to isolated populations.
In collaboration with the World Economic Forum (WEF), the six-month Medicine from the Sky programme aims to document how health systems in remote parts of the state respond to the integration of drone-based supply chains.
Australian Grocery Store Now Offers Drone Deliveries In Minutes, Fulfilling Agenda 2030 Goals
Operational Planning
According to WEF, after several “confidence-building” pilot schemes across the country, the Arunachal Pradesh initiative focuses on a more “elaborate agenda” involving deeper operational planning and observations.
In mid-2021, the forum undertook a field study in Arunachal Pradesh, along with the Public Health Foundation of India, to learn more about the local health distribution system, disease profile and the nature of the terrain. WEF reports that traversing the Seppa-Bameng belt by road, in particular, made it evident that drones were an “absolute necessity”.
Through our learnings in Telangana, we are looking to stress-test our systems in Arunachal Pradesh under the liberalised drone regime while factoring in economic principles from the point of initiation.
For this purpose, we will work on two bell-weather districts – East Kameng and Lower Subansiri – over an extended time frame and supplement ongoing central initiatives with data and examples while empowering local governments with drone-based solutions.
Said Vignesh Santhanam, lead, aerospace and drones, World Economic Forum.
The six-month programme will be centred around four pillars:
- basic healthcare needs – regular services for vaccines; iron, folic acid, nutrition supplements; prophylactic and mass drug administration; diagnostic sample collection; emergency medications; blood and blood products
- ecosystem skill levels, terrain, weather considerations – identification of local stakeholders, including engineering, medical, paramedical, humanities and management colleges; technical and skill development institutes; find continuous source for weather data and real-time prediction
- survivability, scalability and sustainability – resource estimation, impact assessment and economics
- stress testing of drone platforms – ascertaining ability of available technologies to handle undulating terrain.
In a first of its kind approach to raise awareness among rural youth, the district collector of East Kameng has called on all heads of participating villages to nominate “drone ambassadors” in parallel with an essay-writing competition on drones for village school students.
In June 2020, the World Economic Forum in partnership with the state of Arunachal Pradesh hosted a session to discuss the use of drones in medical logistics and delivery in remote tribal areas.
Floods and landslides have often impacted the last-mile delivery of medicine, isolating populations. The session was followed by a field visit in north-eastern India by the World Economic Forum and the Public Health Foundation of India. Discussions with local healthcare workers and visits to remote health establishments clearly established the urgent need for drone corridors across the state.
Drone-based drug delivery
East Kameng district has a hilly terrain which makes it difficult to access interior areas, particularly during the monsoon season. I am sure drone-based drug delivery will be a game-changer in strengthening access to healthcare in such remote areas. I hope the project will give us the answers and clarity for large-scale implementation.
Said Pravimal Abhishek Polumatla, district magistrate
In the context of celebrations for India’s 75 years of independence, the initiative was formally launched at East Kameng district in the presence of key state officials, care workers, local youth and key partners: the Public Health Foundation of India; Redwing Labs; Tech Eagle; Apollo Hospitals HealthNet Global (clinical partner); and USAid which will contribute to the drone programme.
AUTHOR COMMENTARY
According to the WEF’s vision for 2030, they wrote:
Once in awhile, I will choose to cook for myself. It is easy – the necessary kitchen equipment is delivered at my door within minutes. Since transport became free, we stopped having all those things stuffed into our home. Why keep a pasta-maker and a crepe cooker crammed into our cupboards? We can just order them when we need them.
And yet the WEF say their little essay was just ‘hypothetical’ and “a scenario showing where we could be heading – for better and for worse.” And yet everything in that general outline has been coming to pass to a ‘T.’
As the door turneth upon his hinges, so doth the slothful upon his bed.
The soul of the sluggard desireth, and hath nothing: but the soul of the diligent shall be made fat.
Proverbs 26:14, 13:4
[7] Who goeth a warfare any time at his own charges? who planteth a vineyard, and eateth not of the fruit thereof? or who feedeth a flock, and eateth not of the milk of the flock? [8] Say I these things as a man? or saith not the law the same also? [9] For it is written in the law of Moses, Thou shalt not muzzle the mouth of the ox that treadeth out the corn. Doth God take care for oxen? [10] Or saith he it altogether for our sakes? For our sakes, no doubt, this is written: that he that ploweth should plow in hope; and that he that thresheth in hope should be partaker of his hope. (1 Corinthians 9:7-10).
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This is what people yearned for in the 1930s and now it’s a nightmare.
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