The commercial use of drones to bring quality medical care to the most remote Indians is already becoming a reality. Redcliffe Labs, a division of Redcliffe Lifetech in the United States, has developed the first commercial drone flight in the medical sector in India. The company has opened a commercial drone corridor between Uttarkashi and Dehradun.
Drone technology will cover the distance of 144km in just 88 min
Founder of Redcliffe Labs, Dheeraj Jain, shared that the distance on the road between Uttarkashi and Dehradun is 144 km, 68 hours on the road and 12 hours on the landslide. However, using drone technology, this distance was covered in 88 minutes, during which one battery change was made.
Redcliffe and Skye Air joined hands for the project
The project is part of collaboration between Redcliffe and Skye Air, which has successfully completed 40 trials in northern India over the past three months. Redcliffe Labs, delivered 5 kilograms payload in temperature controlled boxes from Gyansu, Uttarkashi to Vivek Vihar, Dehradun, which is 60 kilometres aerial distance.
Two flights will be operated daily
The company will be operating two flights daily for both routine and specialised tests sample collection from June 10, 2022.
Aim to reach at least 500 million people by 2027
Diagnostic service providers aim to reach at least 500 million Indians by 2027. Jain shared that the company “plans to use drone technology to collect Dx samples” on various ways to reach this goal.
Delivery of drones to remote areas to meet urgent medical needs
Other organizations are stepping up commercial delivery of drones to remote areas of India to meet India’s urgent medical needs. As part of the Medicine from the Sky project, the World Economic Forum (WEF) reports that medical professionals are providing vaccines, Covid19 test samples, and medicines to the Vikarabad district from Telangana.
For the programme, carried out over a 45-day trial, WEF`s Centre for the Fourth Industrial Revolution India, partnered with the Government of Telangana, Apollo Hospital`s Healthnet Global, and Niti Aayog. The district becomes selected as it consists of groups dwelling withinside the dense forests of the Ananthagiri hills.
Drones are adopted to improve labor efficiency and reduce operating costs
Initially skeptical, the Indian business sector has adopted drones to improve labor efficiency and reduce operating costs. According to a 6Wresearch report, India’s unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) market is set to grow at a CAGR of 18% in 2017-23 in terms of revenue. Another study conducted by BIS Research predicts that the commercial drone market could overtake the military market by this year, for a total of about $ 900 million.
