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