After Mokokchung, the Indian Medical Council of Medical Research (ICMR) Drone Response and Outreach in North East (i-Drone) pilot project which was launched in Tuensang on Saturday, made its maiden flight and the longest ever by a drone in India.
In a tweet, chief minister Neiphiu Rio said that ICMR Delhi and the state government scripted 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 drone carrying medicines in India,” Rio stated.
According to DIPR, the formal launch of the ICMR project, in collaboration with the state health authorities, was held at the parade ground with the assistance of DEF Tuensang.
The pilot project was launched to study the feasibility of drone technology to deliver Covid-19 samples from Mokokchung to Tuensang since the district does not have Covid-19 RT-PCR testing facility. The drone equipped with about 3000 units of medical supplies took about 28 minutes to reach Tuensang from Mokokchung.
The i-Drone project team said that over 7000 units of medical supplies have been transported to Nagaland through this project.