Centre invites bids for jab delivery via drones

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, June 14

After the successful trial run of the plan to use drones for Covid-19 vaccine delivery, the government on Monday invited bids from companies with expertise in the area.

The bid requires the use of unmanned aerial vehicles capable of covering aerial distance of a minimum 35 km, vertical takeoff and carriage of at least 4-kg payload. The vehicles should be able to return to the command station after the specified delivery.

The bid document, prepared by the Indian Council of Medical Research which led the pilot project in Telangana to try the drone delivery of jabs and drugs, says the aim of the project is to ensure last mile coverage.

“The main objective of the proposed work is to develop a medical supplies delivery model and its feasibility in the field practice area by using UAVs in remote inaccessible areas in selected locations in India,” the ICMR document says.

The successful bidders will first have a 90-day engagement for the project which would be extended depending on outcomes.

Conditional exemption for experimental drone flights for vaccine delivery was earlier approved to expand vaccine delivery.