A week after the grant of conditional exemption to the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) for conducting a feasibility study of Covid-19 vaccine delivery using drones, the Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) and Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) have granted a conditional exemption for drone deployment to the Government of Telangana.
The union government has announced that vaccination against COVID-19 for those above 18 years will begin across the country from May 1 as part of the third phase of the inoculation drive. And according to the Union Health Ministry, the cumulative number of COVID-19 vaccine doses administered in the country has crossed 15 crore.
As per data updated by the union government, India faced 3,86,452 new coronavirus infections in 24 hours, the highest single-day rise so far, pushing the total tally of COVID-19 cases to 1,87,62,976, while active cases crossed the 31-lakh mark. The death toll increased to 2,08,330 with 3,498 new fatalities.
According to the aviation regulator DGCA, drone usage permission has been granted for conducting experimental delivery of Covid-19 vaccines within Visual Line of Sight (VLOS) Range using drones.
"The permission exemption is valid for a period of one year or until further orders," DGCA said while adding that these exemptions shall be valid only if all conditions and limitations as stated for the respective entities are strictly adhered to.
Civil Aviation officials maintained that the trials will also assist in assessing conditions such as population, degree of isolation, geography etc to identify regions that specifically require drone deliveries.
Earlier this month, similar permission was granted to the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) for conducting a feasibility study of COVID-19 vaccine delivery using drones in collaboration with IIT Kanpur.
"The grant of these permissions is intended to achieve the dual objectives of faster vaccine delivery & improved healthcare access by," an official said. He added that the move will be ensuring primary healthcare delivery at the citizen’s doorstep, limiting human exposure to COVID congested or COVID prone areas through aerial delivery, ensuring access to health care to the last mile, especially in remote areas and possible integration into the middle mile of medical logistics for long-range drones.
It will also be beneficial in improving the medical supply chain, especially with a third vaccine expected to be commissioned and millions of doses to be transported across India.
Drones have been very useful in providing last-mile deliveries. Quoting an example of Ghana, an official said that a delivery service Zipline has been using drones to give COVID-19 vaccines to people living in remote areas. And, the initiative is supported by the World Health Organization (WHO).
Conditional exemption has also been granted to a few entities and civic bodies to carry out studies of using drones. These include the municipal corporations of Dehradun, Haldwani, Haridwar and Rudrapur for preparation of GIS-based property database and electronic tax register; the Kota and Katni divisions of West Central Railway for deployment on train accident sites and for maintaining the safety and security of railway assets.
