Hyderabad: The state government’s newly launched ‘Medicine from the Sky’ drone project came handy for a 16-month-old baby, who could receive medical aid in spite of heavy downpour in Kurthi village (Pitlam mandal) of Kamareddy district a day earlier on September 27.
On September 27, the baby was reportedly suffering from abdominal pain and fever. A medical officer, Dr. Sivakumar examined the little patient on a video call. The local health staff reported the case to the Kamareddy collector’s office and sought permission to deploy a medicine-delivery drone.
According to a report from the New Indian Express, at around 4 p.m. yesterday, the local health department deployed a drone across the raging Manjeera river due to rains caused by cyclone Gulab.
What is Medicine from the Sky?
The Telangana government’s ‘Medicine from the Sky’ initiative was launched on September 11 to deliver medicines to remote areas using drones. The project is the first-of-its-kind in India as it is the first organized BVLOS drone trials in the country and the same is being done in healthcare as a domain.
The project, which seeks to deliver medicines, vaccination, and units of blood to remote, rural areas by means of drones, is a collaboration of Telangana government with World Economic Forum, NITI Aayog, and HealthNet Global (Apollo Hospitals).
The project is currently active in 16 districts of the state. During the trial run, the drone delivered about 5 kg of COVID-19 vaccines to a community health center located three kilometers from the launch site.