Question : Use of UAVs for Medicines

(a) whether the Government is using Unmanned Aerial Vehicles(UAVs)/Drones to deliver medicines to remote areas in the country and if so, the details of the States implementing the programme;
(b) whether the Government has executed any pilot project before allowing UAVs for this project;
(c) if so, the details thereof and if not, the basis on which this project was approved for roll out;
(d) the details of the Corona vaccine doses and other medical products transported using the UAVs in the country across the States;
(e) whether the Government has reviewed the project for assessing the cost and time effectiveness as compared with normal transportation and if so, the details thereof;
(f) the details of the private agencies involved in providing UAV services in the roll out of the project; and
(g) whether the UAVs experienced any crash landings while transporting the medical services and if so, the details thereof?

Minister of State in the Ministry of CIVIL AVIATION (GEN. (DR) V. K. SINGH (RETD))

(a) to (e) Yes, Sir. Permissions have been granted by the Government for experimental delivery of essential healthcare items and Covid-vaccine using drones in the States of Maharashtra, Manipur, Nagaland, Telangana, Uttar Pradesh and Union Territory of Andaman and Nicobar islands.
The permissions have been granted to:
(i) Department of Health and Family Welfare for delivery of essential healthcare items in Meghalaya on 2nd July 2021.
(ii) National Health Mission, Mumbai for delivery of essential healthcare items in tribal areas of Palghar District in Maharashtra on 13th August 2021.
(iii) Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) for conducting feasibility study of Covid-19 vaccine delivery at Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh on 22nd April 2021.
(iv) ICMR for Covid vaccine delivery in the States of Manipur, Nagaland and Union Territory of Andaman and Nicobar islands on 10th September 2021.
(iv) Government of Telangana for Covid vaccine delivery under the ''Medicine from the Sky'' project on 11th September 2021 in Vikarabad District, Telangana.

Given the reach, versatility and ease of use of this fast-evolving technology, the pilot projects that used drones for various purposes have found that drones take significantly lesser time as compared to road transportation.
;
(f) The private agencies that were involved in providing drone services in the afore-mentioned pilot projects are as follows:;
(i) CDSpace Robotics Pvt. Ltd.
(ii) Daybest Pvt. Ltd.
(iii) TechEagle Innovations Pvt. Ltd.
(iv) BlueInfinity Innovation Labs Pvt. Ltd.
(v) Marut Dronetech Pvt Ltd
(vi) Dunzo Med Air Consortium
(vii) Blue Dart Med Express Consortium
(viii) CurisFly Consortium;
(ix) Flipkart - DroneAcharya - Skye Air consortium
(x) Redwing Labs
(xi) Airserve Initiatives
;
(g) No information has been received by the Government regarding crash landing of drones while transporting the essential healthcare items and Covid-vaccines.
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