Drones to Send Medicines to Remote Parts of ASR District

Visakhapatnam: Alluri Sitharama Raju district has taken another big step in the adoption of drone technology. While Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) have so far been used in tracking ganja smugglers, district officials are now looking at using this technology to save lives.

The World Economic Forum recently carried out its 'Medicine From The Sky' programme, which aims to remove the urban-rural divide by moving blood, vaccines and even organs via drones, in the district on a pilot basis.

For now, district officials are limiting themselves to transportation of life-saving medicines, blood and samples of patients.

ASR district collector A.S. Dinesh Kumar confirmed the trial was conducted and medicines were delivered to a remote village.

"This can be scaled up. We are planning to hold a brainstorming session in Paderu (ASR district) for it. Drones could also be used to deliver pensions to places where there are no roads,’’ Dinesh Kumar told DC.

He said the project is awaiting flight path approval from the AP Drones Corporation and other related instructions. Dinesh Kumar added non-line-of-sight operations (where the drone cannot be directly seen by the operator) will need special permits.

Telangana was the first state in Asia to deliver medicines to remote rural areas using drones.

Drones were used during the floods in Kerala (2018), Uttarakhand (2021), Assam (2022) and Nepal earthquake (2023). Drones are routinely used to track missing trekkers.

"We did not use drones during the recent Chinturu (ASR districts) floods as there was road access to some points but in future we will use them in full scale to save precious time," the collector said.

He further explained that ration deliveries are currently challenging due to the heavy package weight. "The drones in operation can carry up to 10 kg and are weight-controlled," he added.