The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has announced the release of their ‘Guidance Document for use of Drones in Healthcare’. The institute has published this document based on the field experience from Manipur and Nagaland.

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.

Medical items such as measles, mumps, Covid-19 vaccines with storage temperature between 2°C to 8°C, tablets and capsules, syrups in bottles, gloves, syringes, blood bags, diagnostic biological tissues, urine, blood, sputum, saliva or frozen specimens can only be transported following this guidance.

The objective of this document covers areas such as how to obtain regulatory approvals from competent authorities for various kinds of drones and utilising air space for delivering medical supplies restricted to medicines, vaccines and surgical materials.

Identification of healthcare workers at the distribution centres and district hospitals is a critical part of drone based delivery planning as they will be managing the transfer of supplies and packaging, in coordination with the drone pilots.