Nation

ICMR comes up with solutions to deliver Covid medicines

The issued guidance document states Covid-19 vaccines and serums with storage temperatures between 2AoC and 8AoC

Published:
03 Jun 2022 06:00pm IST
Fit-NE<br>Staff Bureau BY: Fit-NE
Staff Bureau
Share this Article:
India is witnessing a good face of the medical system in the present scenario. There have been many developments in the medical field and miraculous cases have come forward. Even during the time of disasters in the country, the health professionals along with the workforce of the Disaster Management Authority have put their full force to transport medicines and needy stuff even to the most impossible locations. This work is mostly done with the help of helicopters, cars and boats.
The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) on 2 June has released a guidance document for use of drones in healthcare for medical supplies in far-flung areas. ICMR has come up with a solution of delivering Covid-19 vaccines in the northeastern states of Manipur and Nagaland.
As per the guidance document, the Covid-19 vaccines and serums with storage temperature between 2AoC and 8AoC, tablets and capsules, syrups in bottles, gloves, syringes, blood bags, diagnostic biological tissues, urine, blood, sputum, saliva or frozen specimens can only be transported by drone.
ICMR has come up with a solution of delivering Covid-19 vaccines in the northeastern states of Manipur and Nagaland.
"As a nation with 1.3 billion, we have faced several challenges in upgrading our healthcare system. The Covid pandemic further added to this challenge but also gave us an opportunity to revisit some of the issues and fix them. With the advent of Covid-19 vaccines, ICMR envisaged the delivery of these vaccines to hard-to-reach-terrains in India. This guidance document will assist in understanding different nuances involved in planning and execution of drone-based delivery of medical supplies," Prof Dr. Balram Bhargava, Director General of ICMR, has said in the foreword of the document.
representative image
Image: representative image
The scientists from ICMR collaborated with Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA), Government of India, Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), Airport Authority of India (AAI) to produce this document in compliance with the New Drone Rules-2021 which highlights the ways of selecting drones, choosing takeoffs and landing sites etc.
The scope of this document covers areas such as how to obtain regulatory approvals from competent authorities for various kinds of drones and utilizing air space for delivering medical supplies restricted to medicines, vaccines and surgical materials. It also underlines the ways of selecting suitable drone models and criteria for choosing take-off and landing points for drones.
Be the first to start a discussion here. Sign-in to write a comment now!