Integrating Safety of Drones in India’s Healthcare System
Harish Gupta · Journal of Medical Evidence · 2025
‘#Artificial Intelligence holds great promise for health but also comes with serious challenges, include unethical data collection, cybersecurity threats and amplifying biases or misinformation. New @WHO guidance will support countries to regulate #AI effectively, to harness its potential while minimising the health risks’. – Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director General of the World Health Organization, 19 October 2023.[1] Gairolla et al. analyse to integrate drones in India’s healthcare system and thereupon assess its opportunities and challenges in their editorial published in October–December 2024 issue of the Journal. The article highlights current and potential benefits, uses and future implications of carefully navigating the device, its outreach, experiences in other parts of the world and success stories related to deployment in the medical arena. Fields where the Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) may be especially helpful are indicated by the writers where chemicals, blood and blood products may be carried in a better way and across difficult terrains rapidly and economically. I am indebted to the insight shared by the authors where they want to utilise state-of-the-art technology for human welfare, including the provision of health care.[2] Nonetheless, high-end technology of the age comes up with its own risks and challenges, which we also need to dissect threadbare. During the ongoing Gaza conflict in the Middle East and the Russia – Ukraine war, the world is witnessing the application of the latest gadgets in warfare and learning its earned lessons on-site simultaneously. September 2024 saw pager blats in Lebanon where scores of alleged Hezbollah fighters were killed and maimed-with their near and dear ones during one of the most sophisticated operations ever seen with clinical precision.[3] Israel got its credit, and the world became aware of its leadership and advancements in the area thereafter. In our country, we witnessed an activity of a different kind when the servers of one of our institutes of national importance got hacked in 2022.[4] A tiny wafer of semiconducting material with an embedded integrated circuit (chip) is supposed to have been maliciously programmed behind the attacks, resulting in loss of life, limb and reputation of the involved party. Therefore, nowadays, trade war between superpowers of the globe culminate in attacking each other’s interests in this area as well.[5] The escalation has begun to unfold only now,[6] and we are yet to see its full bloom on the way. Hence, our administrators are building up their fence and firewall as well.[7] We cannot afford to trust others’ manufactured products, devices, services, finished hi-tech gears and usable items; however, useful these may be due to the inherent risk of dangerous software and source code. When we develop a drug, since phase 1 of its trial, safety is the first and foremost consideration in our minds before we go ahead. The same formula should be applied to the development of aerial vehicles also. There is a pressing need to raise globally competitive in-house production and construction of an ecosystem that rewards the best in the field.[8] Medical applications of engineering solutions are a lucrative and emerging field of interest. There is an urgent need to fulfil our requirement by domestic production and after that maybe to export to our friendly territories and companions as well. During COVID-19 times, we insisted on developing our own vaccine and then distributed it to many. The time has come to look to our best minds for developing UAVs too. If we want the future to be on our side, we’d listen to our people first and provide them with raw materials, logistics and other support systems so that they can exhibit their talent, intellectual prowess, entrepreneurship and develop what works the best under those circumstances. The world belongs to dreamers and powers that be should support, promote and encourage those who want us to become self-sufficient. That cooperation will make us Aatmanirbhar (self-reliant) in its true sense. Financial support and sponsorship Nil. Conflicts of interest There are no conflicts of interest.