Eyes in the sky: Drones aim to deliver vaccines, drugs in India amid Covid

The success of these trials could transform the manner in which remote areas get essential healthcare supplies

On a sunny weekend this month, the residents of Vikarabad, a district of Telangana witnessed an unusual sight in the sky. They saw a flight of drones that occurred between the Police Parade Ground and a local primary health care centre, covering a distance of about 3 km. The aim was to discover how life-saving medical items such as blood, vaccines and medicines can be delivered more rapidly compared to by road.

This was a ‘beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS)' drone trial-run for Telangana’s ‘Medicine from the Sky’ project that kicked off this month. It used the identified airspace