Background
Implementation of the immunization program often faces numerous challenges in vaccine delivery, especially in hard-to-reach terrain such as hills, islands, dense forests, remote villages, etc. The interruptions and ineptitudes in the supply chain not only affect the timely delivery of goods but the vaccine efficacy as well. Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) or drones, originally developed for defense purposes, may be the promising alternative for effective vaccine delivery. Drones are known for their rapid, cost-effective, and safe delivery of goods even to hard-to-reach terrains compared to other air transportation systems. Despite this growing interest, inadequate information is available about the practicality, acceptability, operational challenges, and impact on physical characteristics for routine delivery of medical supplies in the Indian Setup. Therefore, ICMR conducted the Phase I study at IIT Kanpur to test the practicality of using drones in delivering drones. With the success of this study, ICMR proposed the Phase II study i.e. ICMR’s Drone Response and Outreach in North-East (i-DRONE), which will develop the drone-based vaccine delivery model for real-life settings, especially in the hard-to-reach terrains of the country such as Manipur, Nagaland and Andaman and Nicobar Island.
Research Questions
The primary research question: Can drone drone-based delivery model be developed and implemented for transporting medical goods i.e. vaccines in Indian settings? This broader question has been further categorized into three subsections:
Quick Takeaways
The visit to the Manipur State was successful, where the COVID-19 vaccines and essential medicines were delivered to various PHCs completely through drones. Now, the ICMR team planned for the Second visit to Manipur and will connect all the PHCs of the Bishnupur District through drone and deliver all vaccines, essential medicines and blood supplies required.
In the Bishnupur district, the command centre and take-off site have been established at Lokoipat parking area near by District Hospital and District Family Welfare Office. Bishnupur has seven primary health centres and two community health centres, as follows:
Primary Health Centres in Bishnupur
a. PHC Oinam
b. PHC Leimapokpam
c. PHC Ningthoukhong
d. PHC Kwakta
e. PHC Kumbi
f. PHC Thanga
g. PHC Karang
Community Health Centres in Bishnupur
a. CHC Nambol
b. CHC Moirang
Similarly, Churachandpur District Hospital caters to nine primary health centres and one community health centre. Keeping in consideration the current capacity of the drone, for now, three primary health centres and one government wellness centre will be connected through drone networks for vaccine/medical supplies delivery. The Lamka Public ground near District Hospital, Churachandpur is being proposed as the takeoff site, from where drone flights will packed medical deliveries will cater to PHC Sagang, PHC Saikot, PHC Singngat and Health and Wellness centre at Tendim Road.
In Imphal West district, there are nine primary health centres, however, six of them are within 12kms radius of the Imphal Airport. Since, these PHCs are located in Airport’s yellow zone which is functionally a ‘no drone flying zone’ due to security reasons, remaining three PHCs will be connected through the drone network for vaccine/medical supply transportation. The drone flight will initiate from PHC Khonghampat to transport vaccines and medical supplies, as per the requirements of the PHCs in Phayeng and Khurkhul.