Blood Bag Delivery by Drone

Context:

The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) successfully conducted a trial run of delivery of blood bags under its iDrone initiative.

About the news:

The trial run has been undertaken for the first time in the country by the ICMR; Lady Hardinge Medical College (LHMC); Government Institute of Medical Sciences (GIMS), Greater Noida; and the Jaypee Institute of Information Technology ( JIIT), Noida.

About i-DRONE (ICMR’s Drone Response and Outreach for North East):

The project ‘i-DRONE’(ICMR’s Drone Response and Outreach for North East) assessed the feasibility of using drones to deliver vaccines and medical supplies.
This was carried out in difficult geographical terrains including land, island, foothills and across the hills.
The medical supplies delivered under the iDrone project included vaccines used in routine immunisation programs, antenatal care medicines, multi-vitamins, syringes and gloves.
The drone delivery system focused on end-to-end ecosystem for drone-based logistic transportation within the states and was first successful example of delivering vaccines through drone from land to Island in South Asia
The iDRONE was first used during the COVID-19 pandemic by the ICMR for distributing vaccines to remote areas.

News Source: pib.gov