VIJAYAWADA: With an objective to extend emergency medical services to remote tribal areas in the State, the Medical and Health Department has entered into an agreement with Redwing, a healthtech company. The agreement was exchanged between Commissioner (Medical and Health) G Veerapandian and Redwing representative Kundan Madireddy.
As part of the agreement, Redwing will transport medicines and blood units to Primary Health Centres (PHCs) and Community Health Centres (CHCs) in the tribal areas of Alluri Sitarama Raju district. ASR district headquarter Paderu will be the hub, and drones will carry medicines and blood units to the PHCs and CHCs located within a radius of 60 to 80 km. The drones will have cold chain facilities to ensure the safety of medicines and vaccines.
Redwing, which is already extending the logistics services in Arunachal Pradesh, is set to enter Andhra Pradesh. It will extend the services free of cost for 6 to 7 months under Proof of Concept.
Apart from carrying medicines, drones will also transport blood, urine and stool samples collected at the PHCs and CHCs to Paderu for analysis. Each drone will have a capacity to carry 2 kg of weight. As a measure to save time during medical emergencies, the State government is also planning to use drones for transport of medicines from King George Hospital in Visakhapatnam to Paderu.