Blood Delivery By Drones Across India Will Be Reality Soon: ICMR

NEW DELHI: Following a successful trial run of blood bag delivery by drones under its iDrone initiative on Thursday, an Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) senior official said blood delivery through drones can soon be expanded to the whole country.

The initiative by ICMR was in perpetuation of a national mission for expansion of the drone ecosystem in India. ICMR first used the 'i-DRONE' during the COVID-19 pandemic for distribution of vaccines in remote areas.

"Today, we are transporting blood and blood-related products which are supposed to be kept at a low temperature. After the experiment, we found that not only can we maintain the temperature but there was also no damage to the products transported,” said Dr Rajiv Bahl, the director general of ICMR.

"We sent another sample through an ambulance and if there are no differences in the samples sent using the two modes then drones will be used all over India," he added.

He also said that clarity on challenge mapping and identifying the possible solutions can be achieved by developing indigenous capacities in research and introduction of innovations and technologies in the mainstream.

"With digitisation, efficient manufacturing of vaccines and development of a rapid delivery mechanism, India achieved 90 per cent coverage within a year. The boost of technology is an accelerator which is gradually pushing India towards achieving the status of being a developed nation," he further added.

The trial run conducted by ICMR is part of a novel validation study, which has been undertaken for the first time in the country through the combined efforts of ICMR, New Delhi’s Lady Hardinge Medical College, Government Institute of Medical Sciences in Greater Noida, and Jaypee Institute of Information Technology of Noida.

10 units of whole blood samples were carried in the inaugural trial flight between the Government Institute of Medical Sciences, Greater Noida, and Lady Hardinge Medical College, New Delhi keeping in visual line of sight, an official statement on Thursday said.

Drones are already being used in some countries to deliver blood products, vaccines, pharmaceuticals, medical supplies, and even human organs to remote, rural areas or areas with poor communication facilities.

In Ghana, drone delivery of blood, for both laboratory samples and as emergency blood and blood product delivery, is now available in thousands of health facilities serving millions of people.

In the US, where supply of whole blood and blood products are often less in rural areas and drones are highly regulated and there is congestion of air traffic, the efficacy of drone delivery of blood and blood products is still under assessment.

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