Blue Dart forms consortium to operate drones for vaccine delivery

May 13, 2021: Blue Dart formed Blue Dart Med-Express Consortium to deliver vaccines and emergency medical supplies to the remotest parts of India with drones.

Blue Dart Med-Express Consortium is part of the 'Medicine from the Sky' project in collaboration with the government of Telangana, World Economic Forum, Niti Aayog and Healthnet Global.

The ministry of civil aviation (MoCA) has granted the project with necessary exemptions and rights to fly drone flights on an experimental basis in Telangana. The aim is to assess an alternate logistics route in providing safe, accurate and reliable pickup and delivery of health care items (medicines, covid-19 vaccines, units of blood, diagnostic specimens and other lifesaving equipment) from the distribution centre to a specific location and back.

Blue Dart Med-Express Drone flights will deploy an immersive delivery model to optimize the current healthcare logistics within Telangana. The model will enable deliveries from district medical stores and blood banks to primary health centres (PHCs), community health centres (CHCs), blood storage units & further from PHCs/CHCs to central diagnostic laboratories.

Also read: Hepicopter to deliver Covid vaccines in Telangana after MoCA, DGCA nod

Balfour Manuel, managing director, Blue Dart, said, "As an organization, Blue Dart has always been surrounded with the technology of the future. It is this ability that has helped us to not only withstand the pandemic but thrive with growth. While we reach out to over 35,000 locations across the country, the current situation calls for much deeper penetration of vaccines."

Ketan Kulkarni, CMO & head – business development, Blue Dart, said, "The consortium aims at enabling safer, efficient and cost-effective drone delivery flights. With efficient systems in place, it can help reduce the current logistics cost, making the healthcare logistics faster and efficient."

Rama Devi Lanka, director of emerging technologies and officer on special duty (OSD), ITE&C department, the government of Telangana, said, "The project would generate real and actionable insights to drive future adoption policies and integration with the existing healthcare supply chain. With covid-19 pandemic wrecking existing supply chains, adopting such disruptive technologies is the need of the hour."

Jayesh Ranjan, IAS, principal secretary, ITE&C department, the government of Telangana, said, "Telangana is one of the most proactive states looking to adopt emerging technologies, and the 'Medicine from the Sky' project using drones is in line with the same principles. This project is one of the first such programs in the country where multiple drones would fly BVLOS to establish their value proposition for the healthcare supply chain. The vision is to ensure healthcare equity for rural areas."