Drones in Healthcare

As the Government of India rolled out a massive adult immunization campaign against COVID-19 in India, speed and accessibility to the vaccines were one of the issues that posed a huge challenge to vaccine delivery in the country. In addition to that, a large chunk of the cost incurred in immunization programmes of low- and middle-income countries is towards supply chain logistics that also includes transporting vaccines from a central refrigeration facility to remote areas. Substitution of the traditional modes of transport with drones is expected to bring down these costs (read here) while also ensuring delivery in a emergency situation like the COVID-19 pandemic is quick. In India, using drones has also ensured vaccines reach the otherwise difficult to access regions in the north-eastern part of the country.

The last session of Innovation & Science @Bharat series for this year in December will bring speakers from industry and academia to talk about how drones have pushed boundaries in the healthcare sector.

Date: December 24, 2021
Time: 03:00 PM – 04:00 PM

Academia

Dr. Sumit Agarwal, Scientist C, ICMR

Dr Sumit Aggarwal is working as Scientist in Division of Epidemiology and Communicable diseases. By training, he is MBBS, MD in Community Medicine. He has published more than 50 research papers in peer reviewed national and international journals including Springer Nature, Lancet, BMC, Benthom. he is also as reviewer and member of editorial board for various medical journals. In ICMR, He is a Program officer for HIV/AIDS/ Sexually transmitted diseases and Operational Research in Public Health. He is also involved in development and validation of AI based tools. In Covid time,  he was member secretary of Operational research group under ICMR’s COVID 19 National Task force. He also looks funding of Ad-Hoc and fellowships in ICMR. He has also completed several medical workshops and training courses conducted by ICMR, DBT, the Union, NIH USA and the UNICEF. He is also serving as an expert member in various national technical and review committees. As a researcher he is investigator to various projects that are of National importance such as vaccine delivery through drones, development of i-Novecop portal, STI networking at National Levels, artificial intelligence-based technology for diagnosis of COVID-19, socio-behavioural impacts of COVID-19 on the survivors and their families, frontline and healthcare workers. Additionally, He is now handling ICMR’s prestigious i Drone project at North east region.

Dr. Prakamya Gupta, Scientist C, ICMR

Dr. Prakamya Gupta is currently working as Scientist in Medical Device and Diagnostics Mission Secretariat (MDMS) at ICMR-Hq. He holds a PhD. in Neuro from PGI, Chandigarh & Masters degree from University of Edinburgh, Scotland. He has published several papers and presented in national and international conferences. He is member of editorial board of Neurology India and reviewer in several journals. He is also serving as an expert member in various national technical and review committees. His area of interest is in the domain of clinical validation of novel Medical Devices and Diagnostics products.