Achieving new heights, AIIMS Ballabhgarh goes Airborne

A Drone Delivery Project in the Ballabhgarh district near the city of Faridabad in Haryana State is a major milestone for the people of the district. The drone delivery operation carried out by TSAW Drones connected two Primary health centers to be joined through an air link to the AIIMS Ballabhgarh campus. Enabling such a logistics channel enhanced the service delivery of the Primary health centers. Reducing the time taken for certain services from multiple days to just a few hours proved a game changer in diagnostic and preventive medical consultation.

AIIMS Ballabhgarh was the center for the drone network and the two Primary health centers that were connected to the operation were PHC Dayalpur and PHC Chhanissa. Proving to the poor road conditions and variable traffic situations the Medical delivery between AIIMS and PHCs could take a lot of time. For transports to and from PHC Dayalpur which is a mere 8km by road takes around an hour of travel time. Adding to the vibrations in handling the medical samples on the bad roads could potentially deteriorate the integrity and reliability of the result report. Similarly, PHC Chhanissa is a 17 Km stretch by road which takes over an hour for transport of medical samples.

Assessing the possibility of improvement in the current scenario, TSAW Drones took responsibility of transporting medical samples to AIIMS Ballabhgarh, with collaboration from ICMR and AIIMS. Utilising its existing Hub and spoke model making a drone hub at AIIMS gave a strategic central location for coordinating between different PHCs. Starting with the PHCs Drone services were started reducing significant time for sample collection to reach the testing lab facility at AIIMS. For PHC dayalpur drone takes around 10 minutes and for PHC Chhanissa drone delivery is covered in 19 minutes.

TSAW Drones is about to complete a month since the beginning of the AIIMS Ballabhgarh hub. The Impact this new technology has brought to the people of the area is immense. Now patients who need critical care like elderly and pregnant women don’t need to worry about traveling to the district hospital for emergencies as they know the critical care services will be available at their nearest Primary health center. On-demand medicines could be made available at minutes' notice. All thanks to the developing drone technology.

Owning to the successful proof of concept in the Faridabad district many other health centers are eager to set up a drone delivery facility to enable the on-demand quick services. However, the challenges involved in setting up a delivery channel and making economic sense out of it proved unfavorable in the initial assessments. For example, if the medical sample delivery constituted only a few vials and meds which could not prove costs, could soon make everyone unwilling to use such a complex technology. In this case, the servicing companies could simplify the drone operations and look for cost-effectiveness for far and wide reachability. As well as the government's push to make people believe the nearest health center is capable enough to take care of the people so they can rely on it. Amidst of challenges we see today, we also witness the unimaginable uses of drone technology that coming up every day. What will be the next impact of this technology on people only time will tell.