Photo: Shri James P.K.Sangma the Hon’ble Minister, Health and Family Welfare, Meghalaya launching the first official drone flight from Drone Delivery Hub built at the Jengjal Sub-Divisional Hospital
In partnership with MHSSP and the Government of Meghalaya, TechEagle, one of the fastest-growing drone delivery startups in India, unveiled Asia’s First Drone Delivery Hub and Network. The groundbreaking effort intends to improve the universal access to healthcare in the state by delivering vital supplies like drugs, diagnostic samples, vaccines, blood and blood components quickly and safely to different regions of the state using a dedicated Drone Delivery Network.
In December 2022, the first official drone flight took off from Jengjal Sub Divisional Hospital(Hub) and delivered medicines to Padeldoba PHC in less than 30 mins which would have otherwise taken 2.5 hours by road.
TechEagle’s Vertiplane X3 Drone delivered different healthcare products including Snake venom-2 pax, Labetalol- 4 pax, Human Albumin-1 pax, Cefotaxime (typhoid dose)- 50 pax in its first flight which was 5X faster in comparison to ground transportation.
Shri James P.K.Sangma the Hon’ble Minister, Health and Family Welfare, Meghalaya while launching the project mentioned, “We are seeing something that is unparalleled in any place of the world. It is a matter of pride for the State of Meghalaya that we would be the first state to instutionalise this initiative and have a system that can be expanded to other areas of the State as well.”
Shri. Ram Kumar S(IAS), Project Director, Meghalaya Health Systems Strengthening Project stated “ I’m very happy that we are able to start such an initiative in the State, which aims at providing access to life-saving drugs and other medical essentials to far-flung and hard-to-reach areas of the State.’’ He further added
“The drone station is meant for regular delivery of medicines, vaccines, blood samples, anti-venoms, etc.”
The significant challenges in last-mile delivery call for an approach to revolutionize the conventional delivery system. With Asia’s First Drone Delivery Network, the solution provided by TechEagle overcomes the problem of lack of visibility, high delivery costs, outdated technology and inaccessibility through roads
and railway networks.
Delighted with the announcement, Mr. Vikram Singh Meena, CEO & Founder, TechEagle said, “Transforming the logistics and healthcare supply chain is at the heart of TechEagle’s vision and this launch of MDDN(Meghalaya Drone Delivery Network) is a first big step forward in the direction of achieving the goal of universal access to healthcare and logistics across the world. We are thankful to the Govt of Meghalaya & MHSSP to provide us this opportunity to create a larger impact on grass root level.”
“MDDN (Meghalaya Drone Delivery Network) & Hub in Phase 1 is a combination of 1 central Hub and 25 spokes(supply chain nodes) in a radius of 50 km where The Drone Hub at Jengal Hospital shall act as the centre point. TechEagle’s Made in India Drones are capable of vertical take off and landing from small areas which enables both forward and reverse logistics of healthcare products in the network.
MDDN would bring universal access to healthcare for 2.7 million people of Meghalaya.” Vikram Singh further added TechEagle’s drones are autonomous and are managed through its proprietary cloud-based fleet management software system and Unmanned Aircraft System Traffic Management (UTM) software. It ensures the safety of drones during operations with other aircraft systems (manned & unmanned) in the same airspace.
In addition, it has developed a robust Inventory Management System and order placement system to maintain the inventory and placing and tracking orders of the goods that shall be transported via drones for strengthening the healthcare system of the state.
The drones manufactured by TechEagle boast failsafe mechanisms. Each aircraft is loaded with tons of failsafe features such as Redundant communication systems, Redundant Propulsion System, Drizzle Proof, Dust Resistant, Obstacle Avoidance, Detect and Avoid, Ballistic Parachute, etc. to boost the safety of the flight.
Prior to this in September 2021, TechEagle successfully conducted India’s First Medicine Delivery via a Hybrid e-VTOL drone in Meghalaya where its Hybrid e-VTOL Drone Aquila X2 delivered the lifesaving drugs successfully from Nongstoin District Hospital to Maweit PHC, situated 25 km apart from each other in less than 25 minutes.
The trial was witnessed and highly appreciated by Government officials including Hon. CM of Meghalaya.
ABOUT TECHEAGLE
TechEagle, a pioneer and leader in Drone Delivery in India, is building an AI/ 5G enabled drone delivery hub and spoke network to transform supply chain & last mile logistics deliveries agnostic to industries/sectors e.g. E-commerce, maritime, hyperlocal & healthcare industry etc. All drones are autonomous and are managed through its proprietary cloud-based fleet management software system and an Unmanned Aircraft System Traffic Management (UTM) software to operate them safely with other aircraft systems (manned & unmanned) in the same airspace.
Currently, they have inducted the “Vertiplane X3” drone which is the best-in-industry class. It is a hybrid drone, a fusion of fixed-wing and VTOL (Vertical Take Off Land).
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