Important Facts For Prelims
Drone-Based Vaccine Delivery Model: i-Drone
- 05 Oct 2021
- 3 min read
Why in News
Recently, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has launched a Drone-Based vaccine delivery model named, Drone Response and Outreach in North East (i-Drone).
- Drone is a layman terminology for Unmanned Aircraft (UA). There are three subsets of Unmanned Aircraft- Remotely Piloted Aircraft, Autonomous Aircraft and Model Aircraft.
Key Points
- About:
- Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has devised the model to make sure that life-saving vaccines reach everyone.
- It has been designed to facilitate vaccine delivery to tough and hard-to-reach terrains of India.
- Currently, the drone based delivery project has been granted permission for implementation in Manipur and Nagaland, as well as union territory of Andaman and Nicobar Island.
- The permission was granted to the ICMR for conducting feasibility study of Covid-19 vaccine delivery using drones, in collaboration with IIT-Kanpur.
- Significance:
- It will help in overcoming the gaps in current vaccine delivery mechanisms and can be used in delivering important life-saving medicines, collecting blood samples etc.
- This technology can also be used in critical situations. It can be a game changer in addressing the challenges in health care delivery, particularly health supplies in difficult areas.
- Other Projects Using Drones:
- Telangana government has selected 16 Primary Healthcare Centres (PHCs) for pilot testing the ambitious ‘Medicine from the sky’, the first-of- its-kind project.
- The International Crops Research Institute (ICRISAT) was permitted to deploy drones for agricultural research activities, apart from some agriculture universities and educational institutions.
Indian Council of Medical Research
- It is the apex body in India for the formulation, coordination and promotion of biomedical research.
- Its mandate is to conduct, coordinate and implement medical research for the benefit of the Society; translating medical innovations into products/processes and introducing them into the public health system.
- It is funded by the Government of India through the Department of Health Research, Ministry of Health & Family Welfare.
