MEERUT: A private diagnostic lab in Noida used a drone to transport blood samples from Meerut to Noida in just one hour, a journey that would by road have taken 2-3 hours.
This is the first trial run – of the 15 planned -- carried out by Redcliffe Labs, which is hopeful of expanding blood sample collection via drone in rural and hilly areas such as Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakahnd, J&K, "if everything works as per plan".
A video of a small drone, with six wings, flying in the sky over Noida remained one of the most widely commented and shared videos on social media platforms. The drone -- hexa copter -- carrying blood samples inside a temperature-controlled box covered a distance of 73.6 km in one hour on Thursday.
The drone belonged to Skye Air Mobility, a drone delivery logistics provider company. “With the technology, we are confident of also delivering test results to patients on time,” said Dheeraj Jain, founder of Redcliffe Life Diagnostics, adding that it is a “first of its kind initiative” here.
“Ferrying blood samples with the help of drones is the first of its kind experiment in the diagnostic industry in India. In a country like ours, challenges with respect to accessibility to diagnostic services can be tough. Urban areas face the problem of road traffic while rural areas do not have the required infrastructure. Hence, it can take a lot of time for test samples to reach a particular lab. If the drone technology system is put in place, we can be confident of delivering test results to patients on-time,” Jain added.
