ArticleJournal of family medicine and primary care2025
Transporting medicines by drones in hilly terrain of Northern Himalayas in India.
Article in Journal of family medicine and primary care, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
2 citing papers in PubMed.
- Drone-based sputum transport for TB diagnosis in remote communities.IJTLD open · 2026Article
- Stem cell-derived extracellular vesicles for high-altitude skin injuries: pathological mechanisms, advanced Nano-delivery, and translational perspectives.Frontiers in bioengineering and biotechnology · 2026Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
9 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Background: In certain parts of the world, the use of drones in health care is expanding to increase outreach and accessibility of health services. In India, states located in the Northern Himalayan region of the country have predominantly hilly and challenging topography, making it difficult to deliver medications and medical samples on time. Methods: In the current study, initiatives for the use of drone technology in medicine were put into practice through a sequence of proof-of-concept trials that were conducted in a tertiary care facility in India to deliver antitubercular medications and blood products in the hard-to-reach terrain of the Himalayas and the transportation of samples to the laboratory. Results: A total of seven trials were conducted, which represent seven sorties, including round trips. Of these, five trials were successful while two trials failed due to environmental challenges. The trial's findings indicate that employing drones can reduce medicine delivery time and sample turnaround times in laboratories comparatively faster than conventional transportation methods (Google Map estimated driving times (minutes) (EDTs) [Median (Range) 130 (46-165] vs drone delivery times (DDTs) [Median (Range) 34 (16 - 35); Conclusion: Drones can enable faster access to medical supplies, especially in remote locations.This study evaluated the feasibility and challenges involved in using drones to deliver medical supplies in hilly terrain areas.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.