Why drone delivery makes sense for medical emergencies

Drones help overcome logistic challenges in taking vaccine or medical essentials to remote areas quickly. They can go mainstream with the right policy milieu

- Wg. Cdr. S Vijay

The vaccination drive for COVID-19 is a gigantic task, even though India has a well-structured vaccination delivery system owing to its universal immunization programs. While the country has the world’s largest railways and road networks but a new, efficient mode of transporting vaccines is required to overcome the logistic challenges considering the fact that India is a vast country with 67% of the population living in the rural side.

This is where a drone-based distribution system plays a vital role. Using drones could make the delivery of critical medicines and vaccines, especially to remote areas, more accessible and faster. Using drones to deliver medical supplies will help in better resource management of the limited supplies and facilitate just-in-time delivery to the current supply chain system. Smart inventory management and overcoming stock-out issues can help lighten the current burden and deal with the crisis efficiently. In fact, many countries in Africa are using drones to deliver vaccines. There are instances of drone usage in emergency situations in India as well.

Thus, there is a need to think beyond the conventional methods and adopt the rapid drone delivery system for the transportation of vaccines and emergency medicines to tackle life-threatening diseases. Just as emergency usage of vaccination was granted, emergency usage of drone deliveries could also be permitted in the healthcare sector.