While the Centre has invited an expression of interest for unmanned aerial vehicles, a few state governments are also set to start trials with UAVs for supply of medical supplies and vaccines to remote areas
A person wearing a protective suit collects a cooler from a drone, which usually carries blood samples to be tested for Covid-19, on July 28, 2020 outside DOROT, Netanya Geriatric Medical Center, in the central Israeli city of Netanya. Amid the novel coronavirus pandemic crisis, the Israeli Ministry of Transportation started a pilot project “Remedy from the sky” program, drones for delivery of payloads including medical items like blood samples and medicines; Images: GIL COHEN-MAGEN / AFP
Five years ago, in 2016, a nationwide drone delivery programme for medical supplies was launched in Rwanda. In March 2021, the world’s first drone delivery of Covid-19 vaccines took place in Ghana. Even as the global pandemic has only made discrepancies in the medical supply chain more evident, African countries, according to the World Economic Forum, are showing the rest of the world the social and economic value that can be provided by this technology.