Sanjeevan Bharat, a UK government-funded project led by Pune’s KEM Hospital Research Centre in collaboration with city-based start-up Volar Alta that intends to use drones to transport crucial medical supplies to remote areas, will be launched on Wednesday in Manchar.
The trials, which began in Manchar with the first drone delivery, are aimed at laying the groundwork for a much more organized and sustainable drone delivery network that will enhance access to not only critical hospital supplies but also essential food items.
What is a Drone?
A “drone” is a word used to describe any unpiloted aircraft. These gadgets, sometimes known as “Unmanned Aerial Vehicles” (UAVs), can perform a wide range of tasks, including fighting and package delivery. Drones come in all shapes and sizes, from the size of a plane to the palm of your hand. Delivery drones are primarily self-contained uncrewed aerial vehicles (UAVs) that deliver meals, packages, or items to your front door.
Aim of the Project
The goal of this drone project is to show the last-mile delivery of vaccinations and other medical supplies to primary and community health centers in rural Maharashtra utilizing electric battery-powered autonomous drones.
“We’re laying the groundwork for drone-based deliveries of a wider range of goods by building an on-demand logistics network.” “The idea is to bring drones of various makes and capacities together on a single platform to serve a variety of food and healthcare distribution needs,” Kolte Alekar explained.
According to Deependra Singh Kushwah, CEO of Maharashtra State Innovation Society, “together, these partners will not only construct the required ecosystem to accommodate drone-based deliveries but will also demonstrate brief & medium drone-based deliveries in a hub-and-spoke framework to check the effectiveness of drone-based logistical issues in the healthcare and food distribution segments.”
Fund Raising
From December 16 of 2021 to March 31 of 2022, funds totaling £70,000 (about Rs 60 lakh) were distributed over a three-and-a-half-month period. The technology will be introduced in a few select primary health centers in the Manchar and Junnar belt after the trials are completed. According to the KEM Hospital officials, this would also minimize transportation-related carbon emissions.
Bodies Responsible
Volar Alta, a Pune-based drone service provider, will supply the end-to-end required infrastructure for drone-based delivery, while KEMHRC will be in charge of stocking essential medical products and will play a key role in developing and adhering to clinical procedures. The Maharashtra State Innovation Society has backed the project.
Hurdles in the Project
High costs per delivery, as well as reduced range, payload, and endurance capacity, are substantial barriers to drone logistics adoption. While most drone manufacturers are working on the latter, these drones can still only make one delivery each trip because they must return to base, be charged up or refueled, and then take off for the next delivery.
Solution Statements
The project will now make use of Volar Alta’s technology, which allows these drone companies to make many deliveries in a single flight. “We accomplish this by offering a drone-agnostic custom storage payload that is cold-chain enabled and can contain up to 3-5 packages at a time, each of which is released at a precise geo-location. “This model not only reduces the cost of drone deliveries, but it also optimizes the resources needed to complete a single trip,” says Niharika Kolte Alekar, Ceo and Founder of Volar Alta Private Limited.
Drone technology requires a lot of evidence in terms of application and scalability before it can be used on a regular basis. Rutuja Patil, a research scientist at the Vadu Rural Health Programme, said, “We are working to create evidence for the implementers.”
Wrapping Up
How do you get medical supplies to persons who live in remote locations? What kind of device could you utilize to deliver organs to transplant recipients? Drones are the solution to both of those issues, and one Pune-based project is committed to putting it into action.
