Situated amidst the sky-touching Himalayas, the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) Bilaspur has joined hands with IIT Mandi to utilize drones for medicines and sample delivery. The debutant AIIMS of Himachal Pradesh will also expand this service to the neighbouring states of Haryana and Punjab. This way, drones will cater to around 2 crore people, assisting them in the transportation of medicines and patient samples. It must be noted that though the OPD is already available, the hospital will be formally inaugurated by the PM in the coming months.
AIIMS director Dr Vir Singh Negi said in a media statement, “AIIMS Bilaspur is in a remote location, so technology will play a big role. We are doing teleconsultations. We have a helipad, so we will be operating Heli-ambulances, especially for accident and trauma centres. We have tied up with IIT Mandi for the use of drones for medicines or collection of samples and we will see how to expand on this further.”
To bring about a regional balance in terms of public healthcare services, the foundation stone of this AIIMS was laid down in 2019. A native medical student, Paramjit Kaur remarked, “The hospital will bring relief to lots of people. Earlier, people had to go to Shimla or PGI Chandigarh or even Delhi. For now, IGMC in Shimla and medical college are the biggest medical facilities in Himachal Pradesh.”
