Itanagar: The Health Minister of Arunachal Pradesh Alo Libang flagged off the project ‘Medicines from the Sky’ meant to supply medicines through drones in the remote areas of the state. While speaking on the occasion, agriculture minister Tage Taki said: “I strongly believe that the use of drone technology for delivery of medicines will immensely contribute to healthy Arunachal.” Dr Nabam Peter, the CEO of the State Health Agency stated that drones for social impact -Medicine from the sky is in sync with the theme of this year’s Universal Health Coverage Day “Built the World We Want; A Healthy Future for all” and objective of National Health Policy-2017 to progressively achieve universal health coverage.
The project has been taken up by the company TechEagle. “The project is aimed at improving the lives of people as they have to trek difficult terrain for medicines. For the project TechEagle’s state-of-the-art drone delivery solution will ensure regular and consistent transportation of life-saving drugs and other emergency healthcare items to save and improve the lives of people residing in the hard-to-reach areas of the state,” the company said in a statement. “The flight took off from Ziro Valley and transported the cargo to Chambang, covering an aerial distance of 31 km, which was covered by TechEagle’s Drone in just 21 minutes. Apparently, the time taken by a vehicle to travel through road between Ziro Valley to Chambang takes around eight hours. TechEagle’s indigenously developed drone delivery solution transported the items around 24 times faster compared to ground transportation,” the company said. The drone took off from Ziro Valley with a payload of 1.5kg carrying Diclofenac tabs and Adrenaline Injection and on its return flight from Chambang to Ziro Valley, the drone carried blood samples for testing.