Recently, the Department of Health and Family Welfare introduced the Drone vaccine delivery model (Drone Response and Outreach in the Northeast).
Context
Recently, the Department of Health and Family Welfare introduced the Drone vaccine delivery model (Drone Response and Outreach in the Northeast).
About the Drone vaccine delivery model
- Developed by: the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR)
- Aim: To ensure that life-saving drugs reach everyone even in hard and inaccessible areas of India.
- The Drone is designed to overcome challenges by moving Unmanned Aerial vehicles (UAV) or drones to remote and hard-to-reach areas.
- This is the first time the "Make in India 'drone has been used in South Asia to deliver the COVID vaccine over a distance of more than 15 kilometers.
- Currently, a drone-based delivery project has been licensed to operate in Manipur and Nagaland, as well as in the Andaman and Nicobar Island unions.
- Permission was granted to ICMR for research into the feasibility of delivering the Covid-19 vaccine using drones, in collaboration with IIT-Kanpur.
What are Drones?
- Drones are unmanned aerial vehicles or UAVs that can be maneuvered remotely by a pilot.
- Majorly, there are three subsets of Unmanned Aircraft:
- Model Aircraft
- Remotely Piloted Aircraft
- Autonomous Aircraft
- Based on their weight, drones can be divided into five categories:
- nano (weighing up to 250 g)
- micro (250 g to 2 kg)
- small (2-25 kg)
- medium (25-150 kg)
- large (over 150 kg)
|
Significance
- It will help to fill the gaps in existing vaccination methods and can be used to deliver important life-saving drugs, collect blood samples etc.
- This technology can be used in critical situations. It can be a game changer in addressing challenges in health delivery, especially in the provision of health care in difficult areas.
Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR)
- The Indian Research Fund Association (IRFA), founded in 1911 to conduct clinical research on tropical diseases took on a broader role after independence.
- It was rebuilt in 1949 as the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) under the Department of Health and Family Welfare.
- ICMR is India's highest body for the creation, coordination and promotion of biomedical research, and also one of the oldest medical research institutes in the world.
|
