AIIMS-Bhopal Halts Drone Outreach, Shifts Focus To Infrastructure

Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): AIIMS Bhopal has dropped its outreach plan for the time being. Under this plan, AIIMS had launched a drone facility in February 2024 to transport medicines to other districts, especially in the tribal belt.

The initiative, supported by the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW), has now been put on hold as priorities shift towards strengthening infrastructure and other key healthcare areas. AIIMS Bhopal is now focusing on enhancing cancer and paediatric care services.

Two drone stations, each about the size of a tennis court, had been set up on the fifth-floor rooftop of AIIMS Bhopal's trauma and emergency bloc. This marked the first deployment of drone technology in healthcare sector in central India.

Director of AIIMS, Dr Ajai Singh, said, “The Union government has shifted its priority. Now its main priority is to focus on strengthening infrastructure, so we have sidelined the outreach plan for the time being. Later on, it will be carried on, but not right now. Our priority is to develop cancer unit and paediatric care units in AIIMS Bhopal."

He added "The vision is to provide high standards of care for all children needing medical attention, ensuring no child is deprived of tertiary care facilities. Similarly, our aim is to create a comprehensive cancer treatment hub which would act as the referral point for advanced and complicated cancers, which require expertise and high-end infrastructure for appropriate management.”