Ankit Kumar, CEO, Skye Air Mobility explains the role of drones in increasing healthcare accessibility in India
The Indian healthcare sector is facing unique challenges, particularly in rural areas where limited access to healthcare facilities has been a long-standing issue. With over 70 per cent of India’s population residing in such areas, drones have emerged as a promising solution to overcome access barriers and enable faster, more cost-effective, and safer transportation of medical items and test samples.
According to a report by the World Health Organization (WHO), the use of drones in the healthcare sector has the potential to revolutionise the way medical supplies and services are delivered, particularly in low- and middle-income countries where infrastructure and transportation networks are poor. The report highlights the benefits of using drones for emergency response, disease control, and the delivery of vaccines and other medical supplies.
A deeper look at the challenges
Although the government operates roughly 30,000 primary healthcare centres, 5-10 per cent of them are inaccessible due to geographic locations and natural disasters. Additionally, last-mile delivery remains a significant problem in developing countries, as medical supplies often get damaged, stranded, or lost en route to remote areas.
In light of the COVID-19 crisis, the role of emerging technologies, such as drones, in improving access to healthcare and medical supply chains has become more apparent than ever before. Drones have proven to be a reliable and sustainable solution, capable of delivering medical supplies, diagnostic samples, and other essential healthcare products to the remotest areas.
The role of drones in diagnostics
Diagnostics is one of the most common uses for drones in the healthcare sector. Not every hospital or clinic has the facilities for diagnostic tests. Therefore, couriers are frequently dispatched between healthcare system structures and campuses. However, as some diagnostic procedures are time and temperature sensitive, a sample from the patient must be submitted to the lab, and the test must be completed within a certain timeframe, which might be as little as two hours. To eliminate challenges like poor accessibility to locations, drones have an important and rising role. Moreover, drones can carry a large payload in temperature-controlled boxes without compromising safety and quality.
Moreover, intra-campus delivery of diagnostic samples is enabling a faster supply chain for sample collection using drone delivery technology effectively. The technology helps with cost-effectiveness and on-time delivery with fewer human resources needed. Leveraging drone technology, healthcare providers with huge campuses can better serve their customer’s needs, thus enabling them to grow their business.
Medicine delivery via drones in remote areas
Digital healthcare marketplace platforms like Flipkart Health are using drone technology to enable faster delivery of medicines to the citizens of West Bengal, thus delivering pre-prescribed medicines and medical equipment in remote areas of the country.
Drones are faster, more sustainable, more accessible, cost-effective to operate, and capable of doing multiple deliveries in a day. The COVID-19 pandemic widened the scope of drones beyond limits as Telangana launched the ‘Medicine from the Sky’ project to drone-deliver vaccines, medicines to remote areas. The project delivered medicines, vaccinations, and units of blood to remote, rural areas by means of drones and was a collaboration of the Telangana government, the World Economic Forum, HealthNet Global, and NITI Aayog.
Government is supporting drone deliveries
Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand have been pioneers in using drones for healthcare deliveries, which has resulted in better healthcare accessibility and created local employment opportunities in the drone delivery ecosystem.
In states like Himachal Pradesh, drones are helping bring better healthcare accessibility to the remotest parts of the state, helping overcome the challenges of harsh weather and terrain. It is directly benefiting over 5.19 lakh people by improving healthcare accessibility and creating local employment in the drone delivery ecosystem.
Drones have also significantly reduced delivery times and improved the quality of medical care in remote areas. For example, the drone pilot flights from Uttarkashi to Dehradun have helped to reduce the delivery time, which takes 6-8 hours by road and 12 hours during a landslide, to only 1.5 hours.
Drones are using advanced technology
The drone-led delivery system is being executed through a designated cold chain professional to first load the medicine and diagnostic sample in a temperature-controlled payload box. This payload box is then loaded into the drone, which is then directed by drone pilots from the command centre through a predetermined route to a fixed destination.
Furthermore, advanced drone technologies have also completed the 100 km+ record-breaking BVLOS flight, defining commercial drone deliveries at scale in India.
Success rate of drone use in the healthcare sector has been impressive
The success rate of drone use in the healthcare sector in India can be seen in the increasing number of companies entering the drone delivery market. According to investment research firm Tracxn, India had 240 drone start-ups as of September, 2022. Out of these many companies, many are working to develop and deploy drone-based solutions for healthcare delivery, with a focus on areas such as diagnostics, medicine delivery, and emergency response.
Also, advanced drone technologies have completed record-breaking BVLOS (beyond visual line of sight) flights, enabling commercial drone deliveries at scale in India. The drones are delivering products to hard-to-reach areas in the shortest possible time frame.
Final thoughts
The use of drones in the healthcare sector has brought a revolution to India, enabling people in remote areas to access healthcare services that were previously impossible to reach. The success rate of drone deliveries has been impressive, and the technology has proven to be a reliable and sustainable solution for healthcare deliveries. The support from the government and the adoption of advanced drone technologies have enabled the healthcare sector to overcome the challenges of accessibility and infrastructure in remote areas. The use of drones is set to grow exponentially, and it will continue to play a significant role in improving the healthcare sector’s accessibility and efficiency.