Telangana State pilots 'Medicines from the Sky'
Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia and Telangana IT Minister K T Rama Rao and others at the launch of first-ever delivery service of medicines and vaccines by drone in Vikarabad district on Saturday
Hyderabad: 'Medicines from the Sky' project under which drugs and vaccines are delivered using drones will be taken up on a pilot basis in 16 green zones in the State and after assessing its feedback would be extended at national level.
The 'Medicine from the Sky' is an initiative of Telangana in partnership with the World Economic Forum, NITI Aayog, and HealthNet Global (Apollo Hospitals). The project was launched on experimental basis by the Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) drone flights for delivery of vaccines using the identified airspace of the Vikarabad district.
Launching the project here on Saturday, Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia said that drone technology was a new revolution and India was leading this revolution. Scindia said the Centre had eased the rules pertaining to drone operations and reduced the number of forms one must fill from 25 to 5. The type of fees which used to be around 72 has now been reduced to 4 and under the green zone, no permission is needed to fly the drones. The Minister said that an interactive air-space map was being created to announce the flying zones.
Scindia said permissions would be required in the yellow zone while the Red Zone would be no-fly areas.
He said the data collected from the experiment launched in Telangana would be analysed for three months in coordination with the Health ministry, IT ministry, state government and then the Centre would evolve a model which would suit the country.
IT Minister KT Rama Rao said that Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao always says that any technology brought should benefit the common man and if it does not benefit society, it would be futile. He said that not only supply of medicines but also satellite mapping can also be done with the drones.
He recalled how a woman had made a product which would help women in distress. Once the woman sends SMS, the drone reaches the spot and takes up videos before the police reach the spot, he added.
Rao requested the Union Minister to sanction an Aviation University at Begumpet Airport stating that the State government had tied up with the Cranfield University from the UK for a tie-. up in Aerospace University.