Mokokchung drone

Kohima, Dec 19: As part of a pilot project by the Indian Medical Council of Medical Research (ICMR) Drone Response and Outreach in North East (i-Drone), a drone flew for a distance of 90 kilometers from Nagaland’s Mokokchung to Tuensang to deliver medical supplies.

According to the i-Drone team, this was the longest flight ever by a drone carrying medicines in India.

The drone took about half an hour to deliver the medicines and then returned within the same time, making its total travel time is about an hour. The drone equipped with about 3,525 units of medical supplies took about 28 minutes to reach Tuensang from Mokokchung.

In a tweet, the chief minister of Nagaland Neiphiu Rio said that ICMR Delhi and the state government scripted a new chapter in the history of public health practices.

“ICMR Delhi long with Nagaland Government scripts a new chapter in the history of public health practices. 3525 units of medical supplies were transported from Mokokchung to Tuensang covering an aerial dist. of 40kms in 28mnts – longest flight ever by a drone carrying medicines in India,” Rio said in a tweet.


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In collaboration with IIT, Kanpur, the ICMR developed i-Drone is the first of its kind in South Asia to be the first flying commercial drone in the region. This aims at supplying the COVID-19 vaccines and essential medical supplies.