{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,17]],"date-time":"2026-10-17T10:47:52Z","timestamp":1792234072910,"version":"4.4.0"},"reference-count":29,"publisher":"Ovid Technologies (Wolters Kluwer Health)","issue":"1","content-domain":{"domain":["lww.com","ovid.com"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":[],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2024,1]]},"abstract":"<jats:p>In developing countries, last-mile delivery of medical products is a challenge, especially in hilly and rural areas where there is no road connectivity. As helicopters or other air services are not affordable all the time, drones can be used for the supply of medical products. They are cost-effective as compared to other air or road transport. However, the carrying capacity of drone is less, it is not able to carry heavier payloads. Also, operating drones requires trained operators, and it is a new venture in a developing country so possibilities of confusion and lack of clarity on operating procedures are there. Drones are becoming increasingly reliable for the health care delivery. This narrative review explores the use of drones in healthcare delivery globally.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.4103\/sja.sja_506_23","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2024,1,2]],"date-time":"2024-01-02T00:01:21Z","timestamp":1704153681000},"page":"95-99","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1097\/lww.0000000000001000","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":33,"title":["Drone a technological leap in health care delivery in distant and remote inaccessible areas: A narrative review"],"prefix":"10.4103","volume":"18","author":[{"given":"Sanjana","family":"Sharma","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Public Health, Bharti University, Durg, Chhattisgarh, India"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Hunny","family":"Sharma","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Community and Family Medicine, All India Institute of Medical Sciences Raipur, Chhattisgarh, India"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"276","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2024,1,2]]},"reference":[{"key":"R1-20260504","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"e21967.","DOI":"10.1097\/MD.0000000000021967","article-title":"Drone for medical products transportation in maternal healthcare: A systematic review and framework for future research","volume":"99","author":"Zailani","year":"2020","journal-title":"Medicine (Baltimore)"},{"key":"R2-20260504","first-page":"71","article-title":"Drones in medicine-The rise of the machines","author":"Balasingam","year":"2017","journal-title":"Int J Clin Pract"},{"key":"R3-20260504","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"342","DOI":"10.4103\/jfmpc.jfmpc_413_18","article-title":"Unmanned aerial vehicle (drones) in public health: A SWOT analysis","volume":"8","author":"Laksham","year":"2019","journal-title":"J Family Med Prim Care"},{"key":"R4-20260504","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"30.","DOI":"10.3390\/drones4030030","article-title":"The application of drones in healthcare and health-related services in North America: A scoping review","volume":"4","author":"Hiebert","year":"2020","journal-title":"Drones"},{"key":"R5-20260504","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"e0267664.","DOI":"10.1371\/journal.pone.0267664","article-title":"Human drone interaction in delivery of medical supplies: A scoping review of experimental studies","volume":"17","author":"Stephan","year":"2022","journal-title":"PLoS One"},{"key":"R6-20260504","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"12.","DOI":"10.3390\/drones6010012","article-title":"A review of unmanned system technologies with its application to aquaculture farm monitoring and management","volume":"6","author":"Ubina","year":"2022","journal-title":"Drones"},{"key":"R7-20260504","article-title":"The Leapfrog Opportunity in the World's Underserved Health Care Markets","author":"Stoakes","journal-title":"Forbes"},{"key":"R8-20260504","article-title":"Drones and maps: India's frog leap","author":"Fadima","journal-title":"Veille cartographique 2.0"},{"key":"R9-20260504","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","DOI":"10.24251\/HICSS.2017.399","article-title":"Drone Delivery Models for Healthcare","author":"Scott","year":"2017","journal-title":"Proceedings of the 50th Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences"},{"key":"R10-20260504","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"e2018.00018.","DOI":"10.4293\/JSLS.2018.00018","article-title":"Surgical and medical applications of drones: A comprehensive review","volume":"22","author":"Rosser","year":"2018","journal-title":"JSLS"},{"key":"R11-20260504","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"425","DOI":"10.1016\/j.cmi.2019.09.014","article-title":"Use of drones in clinical microbiology and infectious diseases: Current status, challenges and barriers","volume":"26","author":"Poljak","year":"2020","journal-title":"Clin Microbiol Infect"},{"key":"R12-20260504","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"427","DOI":"10.1093\/ajcp\/aqx090","article-title":"Drone transport of chemistry and hematology samples over long distances","volume":"148","author":"Amukele","year":"2017","journal-title":"Am J Clin Pathol"},{"key":"R13-20260504","first-page":"1","article-title":"Using unmanned aerial vehicles-drones as a logistic method in pharmaceutical industry in germany","volume":"1","author":"Guner","year":"2017","journal-title":"Aviation"},{"key":"R14-20260504","first-page":"17","article-title":"Medical applications of drones for disaster relief: A review of the literature","volume":"33","author":"Rosser","year":"2018","journal-title":"Surg Technol Int"},{"key":"R15-20260504","article-title":"Armed with drones, aid workers seek faster response to earthquakes, floods. U.S.","author":"Sharma","year":"2016"},{"key":"R16-20260504","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"124.","DOI":"10.1186\/s13049-016-0313-5","article-title":"Unmanned aerial vehicles (drones) in out-of-hospital-cardiac-arrest","volume":"24","author":"Claesson","year":"2016","journal-title":"Scand J Trauma Resusc Emerg Med"},{"key":"R17-20260504","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"40.","DOI":"10.1186\/s13049-019-0622-6","article-title":"Drone delivery of an automated external defibrillator-A mixed method simulation study of bystander experience","volume":"27","author":"Sanfridsson","year":"2019","journal-title":"Scand J Trauma Resusc Emerg Med"},{"key":"R18-20260504","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"25.","DOI":"10.1007\/s12170-018-0589-2","article-title":"Delivery of automated external defibrillators (AED) by drones: Implications for emergency cardiac care","volume":"12","author":"Z\u00e8gre-Hemsey","year":"2018","journal-title":"Curr Cardiovasc Risk Rep"},{"key":"R19-20260504","article-title":"Meghalaya: In a first, drone used to deliver medicines to remote health centre in West Khasi Hills","year":"2021"},{"key":"R20-20260504","article-title":"How drones delivering vaccines are saving lives in India","year":"2022","journal-title":"World Economic Forum"},{"key":"R21-20260504","article-title":"Guidance document for use of drones in healthcare"},{"key":"R22-20260504","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"4062","DOI":"10.1016\/j.vaccine.2016.06.022","article-title":"The economic and operational value of using drones to transport vaccines","volume":"34","author":"Haidari","year":"2016","journal-title":"Vaccine"},{"key":"R23-20260504","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"514","DOI":"10.1016\/j.pt.2014.09.001","article-title":"Mapping infectious disease landscapes: Unmanned aerial vehicles and epidemiology","volume":"30","author":"Fornace","year":"2014","journal-title":"Trends Parasitol"},{"key":"R24-20260504","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"583","DOI":"10.1016\/j.ajem.2017.09.025","article-title":"The potential use of unmanned aircraft systems (drones) in mountain search and rescue operations","volume":"36","author":"Karaca","year":"2018","journal-title":"Am J Emerg Med"},{"key":"R25-20260504","article-title":"Telangana launches \u2018Medicine from the Sky\u2019 project to drone-deliver vaccines, medicines to remote areas","author":"Mohammed","year":"2021"},{"key":"R26-20260504","article-title":"Covid vaccine delivery through drones starts in Northeast","year":"2021","journal-title":"The Times of India"},{"key":"R27-20260504","article-title":"36km in 30 minutes: Drone for medicines delivery in Uttarakhand hills","author":"Azad","year":"2023","journal-title":"The Times of India"},{"key":"R28-20260504","article-title":"Govt of Maharashtra, Zipline and SII announce India's first autonomous instant drone delivery service","year":"2019"},{"key":"R29-20260504","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"S28","DOI":"10.1097\/TA.0000000000002221","article-title":"The promising future of drones in prehospital medical care and its application to battlefield medicine","volume":"87","author":"Braun","year":"2019","journal-title":"J Trauma Acute Care Surg"}],"container-title":["Saudi Journal of Anaesthesia"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/www.ovid.com\/10.4103\/sja.sja_506_23","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,18]],"date-time":"2026-08-18T15:41:30Z","timestamp":1787067690000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/www.ovid.com\/10.4103\/sja.sja_506_23"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2024,1]]},"references-count":29,"journal-issue":{"issue":"1","published-print":{"date-parts":[[2024]]}},"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.4103\/sja.sja_506_23","relation":{},"ISSN":["1658-354X","0975-3125"],"issn-type":[{"value":"1658-354X","type":"print"},{"value":"0975-3125","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2024,1]]},"assertion":[{"value":"2023-06-10","name":"received","label":"Received","group":{"name":"publication_history","label":"Publication History"}},{"value":"2023-06-11","name":"accepted","label":"Accepted","group":{"name":"publication_history","label":"Publication History"}}]}}