Drones deployed to deliver medical kits in Kohima

July 17, 2020 164 Views No Comment

Correspondent
KOHIMA, JUL 16 (NPN)

In a first, the Geographical Information System (GIS) Nagaland has begun drone delivery of medical kits including PPE suits, face masks and disinfectant liquids to Hospital and Quarantine Centre in Kohima with zero human contact. The project has been initiated by Nagaland State Disaster Management Authority (NSDMA) in collaboration with Nagaland GIS and Remote Sensing under Planning and Coordination Department.

GIS Nagaland engineer, Kethorietuo Kesiezie, told Nagaland Post that after much research and trials, the first package of PPE suit along with facemask was delivered to Naga Hospital Authority Kohima (COVID-19 Hospital) on Wednesday. On Thursday, he said PPE suits were delivered to Meriema Quarantine Centre. The engineer said delivery to other Quarantine centres in Kohima district would follow.

The engineer said drones had the capacity to carry payload of about 15kg with zero human contact. “We don’t have to go to the centres but sit in the comfort of the office and send the drone to deliver the package,” he said, adding that around 30-40 trips could be made in a day depending on the distance and time.

The engineer further informed that the drones delivered PPE suits and disinfectant liquids weighing about 10 kg per trip to the Quarantine centres and COVID hospitals in Kohima district.

Informing that the currently the project had been started in Kohima district only, the engineer, however, expressed hope that it could be made available to all the districts of the state if the government was favourable.

Citing an example of Zipline, a US-based company operating in Rwanda (Africa) that delivers life-saving drugs to remote villages using drones, he said the initiative has resulted in saving countless of lives. He maintained that same technology could also be applied in Nagaland. He said that it could take drones around 50 minutes to deliver life-saving drugs from Kohima to Mon.

Source: http://www.nagalandpost.com/drones-deployed-to-deliver-medical-kits-in-kohima/219114.html

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