New Delhi : From June 10, Radcliffe Labs will start using drones to carry medical test samples twice daily from its collection centers located in the far corners of Uttarkashi to its laboratories in Dehradun. The company said it would operate three flights a day by the end of July.
Experts said the health industry would be the first large-scale adopter of commercial drone delivery, following the government’s liberal rules for the operation of drones last August.
According to Radcliffe, the move will help the company reduce the time taken for transportation of test samples by road from six hours to just 88 minutes. It also wants to expand its services to the hilly regions of Himachal Pradesh, Northeast and Ladakh, and is setting up a laboratory in Shimla to increase coverage.
Sky Air Mobility is supplying the drones to Radcliffe Labs. The drone delivery startup has partnered with 85% of organized diagnostic centers including SRL Diagnostics and Radcliffe to deliver test samples and medicines using drones. Apart from this, Sky Air is also working with e-commerce and food delivery platforms.
“We are trying to do the same on a commercial scale with Swiggy and Dunzo, who are planning to use drones in cities to deliver groceries,” said Ankit Kumar, chief executive of Sky Air. The first long-distance demo flight for Radcliffe was held on May 19, he said, adding that it would be up to 30% cheaper and take 80% less time to transport the product. “Deliveries by road in hilly areas take eight to 10 hours. Drivers should also be paid for their service. Drones will allow multiple flights, and will substantially reduce the cost on manpower and vehicle,” Kumar said. Told.
Vivek Jhunjhunwala, Partner, Deloitte India said that the use of drones will be widespread in India in 2022. “We may see an uptick in delivery drones in 12-18 months.” The government is actively assisting with use cases in the healthcare sector, including vaccines, medicines and transportation of human organs, he said.
Radcliffe founder Dheeraj Jain said that in hills where road travel takes longer, there will be more chances of drones. “We want to see large sections of the hills regularly connected. We are also trying to bring all these package tests at a very affordable cost,” he said.
While drone delivery has been in the works for some time, liberal drone guidelines for commercial operators have facilitated mass adoption. The Drone Rules, 2021 had changed the complex approval process required to fly drones beyond the line of sight (BVLOS). Certification has also been made easy. Apart from this, the government is making a special corridor for drone delivery.
“Under the Drones (Amendment) Rules, 2022, commercial drone passengers are not required to have a ‘remote pilot license’ to fly legally. All they need is a remote pilot certificate, which can be obtained from an authorized remote pilot training”. may be issued by the organisation,” Jhunjhunwala said.
States are also running trials for commercial drone deliveries. For example, Telangana conducted trials in September using drones to transport medicines and vaccines over a flight path of six kilometers within five minutes.
Rama Devi Lanka, director of emerging technologies in Telangana government, said another six-month pilot is being planned where drones will carry test samples, deliver medicines and vaccines to remote areas of Kothagudem district.
That said, it may be more challenging for other industries to use drones for commercial distribution. Anurag Dua, Partner Consulting, EY said that drone delivery in urban centers will be a different game. He said that for drones that fly 300-500 feet, one concern will be determining who owns the airspace above our home. The Centre’s Digital Sky platform, which is a map that drone service providers need to navigate around cities, has been in the works for some time. This will not only help companies trace flight corridors but will also allow them to track drones and establish their legality.