Drones to the rescue: Now get medicines from the sky

Drones are helping people in remote rural areas become connected to important services, such as healthcare. These high-tech devices can dramatically cut transport times and increase supply chain efficiencies. Countries around the world have experimented with drones for last-mile delivery for the past five years, but the first big leap forward took place in Rwanda, where experiments, or pilot projects, matured into national-scale implementations. Through drones, Rwanda cut the delivery time of medical goods from four hours to 15 minutes in some cases, and saved thousands of lives in the process.

Closer home, the government of Telangana has been exploring the use of drones to increase access to healthcare for communities across the state. The state government is one step closer to act on its own large-scale programme to deliver blood and transport of medical samples via drone. The government has adopted a new framework to implement drones for last mile delivery. This will integrate them into the state’s healthcare supply chain.