‘Asia’s first Drone delivery for healthcare’ in Meghalaya

In a first-of-its-kind initiative, the Meghalaya government in partnership with startup TechEagle has unveiled Asia’s first drone delivery hub and network which is aimed at providing universal access to healthcare for the people in the state.

The project is aimed at delivering vital supplies like drugs, diagnostic samples, vaccines, blood, and blood components quickly and safely to different regions of the state using a dedicated drone delivery network.

On Monday, the first official drone flight took off from the Jengjal Sub Division of East Garo Hills district and reached the Jengjal Hospital, a distance of about 20km. The drone delivered a packet containing essential medicines and supplies to the hospital.

The project was launched by Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma in A&N Island Hospital at Port Blair on Saturday where he handed over the first drone to Health Minister P B R Lyngdoh. Jenga Hospital in the East Garo Hills district of Meghalaya has become the first hospital in India to have a “Hub and Spoke” model of drone delivery.

The hospital, along with a group of 25 villages around it, has joined hands with Meghalaya’s first drone delivery network, MDDN (Meghalaya Drone Delivery Network). The network is a joint initiative by healthcare logistics provider TechEagle Innovations and e-governance solutions provider North East Network (NN).

The network will use the drone to deliver medical supplies and medicines from an existing hub in Shillong to several remote villages across the Garo Hills district daily.

This will help reduce the transportation cost by as much as 80% for patients, who otherwise have to travel over 100km just to reach the nearest hospital. MDDN is a 3-year-old initiative that aims to provide affordable healthcare services and medicines through the use of innovative technologies.

The network currently uses drones to deliver medical supplies and medicines from an existing hub in Shillong to remote villages across the Garo Hills district daily. This will help reduce the transportation cost by as much as 80% for patients, who otherwise have to travel over 100km just to reach the nearest hospital.

Important points:

The first official drone flight took off from Jengjal Sub Divisional Hospital, which will act as the hub, and delivered medicines to Padeldoba primary health center in less than 30 minutes, which would otherwise have taken 2.5 hours by road, TechEagle said in the release.

TechEagle’s Vertiplane X3 Drone delivered different healthcare products on its first flight which was five times faster in comparison to ground transportation.

Meghalaya Drone Delivery Network (MDDN) and hub in Phase 1 is a combination of one central hub and 25 spokes (supply chain nodes) in a radius of 50 kilometers where the drone hub at Jengal hospital will act as the center point, according to TechEagle.

TechEagle’s drones are capable of vertical takeoff and landing from small areas which enable both forward and reverse logistics of healthcare products in the network, as per the company.