Medical test samples to be collected by drones in Noida

A private drone delivery logistics provider has started a pilot service in Noida, Greater Noida and Meerut to collect and deliver diagnostic test samples

A private drone delivery logistics provider has started a pilot service in Noida, Greater Noida and Meerut to collect and deliver diagnostic test samples. The service aims at faster supply chain of diagnostic sample collection to cater to urban, semi-urban and remote corners of the country using drone delivery solution.

Medical test samples to be collected by drones in Noida

On Friday, trials of BVLOS (beyond visual line of sight) were conducted in Noida with the help of six flights operated for sample collection. The trials were conducted by Delhi-based drone delivery firm Skye Air Mobility and Redcliffe Labs, a diagnostics healthcare company.

Officials said after the samples are collected by a technician, they will be put inside a temperature-controlled storage box attached to the drone. The drone is then sent to a predetermined laboratory, where it will be received by another technician.

The drone operators said green corridors were made for the pilot run after taking relevant permission from the district administration.

Swapnik Jakkampudi, co-founder of Skye Air Mobility, said, “This is a remarkable day giving pace to the drone delivery ecosystem in India, which is poised to lead the drone delivery industry globally with progressive policies and support from the ministry of civil aviation. As a part of the trial, we will be carrying out multiple flights with diagnostic samples from semi-urban and remote corners to various diagnostic centres run by Redcliffe Labs across the country. Generally, we have to wait for 24-72 hours for a test report in cities; the time taken is more in rural and semi-urban areas. Redcliffe Labs has progressive plans to cut down logistics time and bring faster results to their patients via drone delivery.”

The drone operator is set to carry out multiple BVLOS flight trials over the next 10 days. Starting with Noida, Skye Air will be conducting similar BVLOS drone delivery trials in other corridors and subsequently start commercial roll-outs in several semi-urban and remote locations in India.

“With the implementation of drone technology, reaching out to 500 million Indians has just become easier. A box of samples collected by a drone will take almost one-third of the time taken by a phlebotomist to collect the sample and reach the diagnostic centre by road. Temperature monitoring of samples is very important for accurate results. With in-built temperature-controlled mechanism a part of drone technology, it’s easier to monitor real-time temperature of human specimen samples,” said Dheeraj Jain, founder of Redcliffe Labs.

“Transporting blood samples through drones can definitely be helpful in saving time. Now, samples can be collected from rural areas and sent to bigger labs in the city. However, the challenges of safety and sterility of the samples during travel have to be monitored carefully. Chances of accidents are also high. Since it is happening for the first time in Noida, we will also have to see what kind of permission are required for performing this kind of a function,” said Dr Sunil Sharma, chief medical officer of Gautam Budh Nagar.

This is not the first time that a drone delivery system is being used for medical purposes. In September last year, Skye Air Mobility tied up with Blue Dart to start trials of delivering vaccines via drones in the Vikarabad district of Telangana as part of the Union government’s ‘medicines from the sky’ project.