Are Drones Going To Become The New Way To Deliver Organs?
If you have been a regular reader of this website and take a keen interest in knowing about everything about technology, you would have read our article on some really absurd gadgets that have launched at CES this year. One particular absurdity in that lot is the EHang drone – “the delivery drone for humans.” Yes, a drone big enough to carry humans. Now, to take the hype quotient up by a level, EHang has tied up with Lung Biotechnology PBC to develop and produce 1,000 such drones for them. Lung Biotechnology PBC is a company that plans to manufacture lungs along with other artificial organs. They want the drones to be stationed outside factories/plants and use EHang to transport the organs. Calling it the Manufactured Organ Transport Helicopter or MOTH, they want these drones to be their official mode of transport for delivery of these artificial organs to patients in need in hospitals.
India is already on it
While Lung Biotechnology PBC plans to make this into a reality in the near future, back home in India, scientists have already started work on drones that will transport organs to patients in urgent need of a transplant. Every second is crucial for patients suffering from organ failure, which is why Bengaluru will be the first city in the country to ferry organs with the help of a drone. Thus, substantially cutting down on the buffer time and saving more lives.
Natural vs Artificial
While Lung Biotechnology PBC in collaboration with EHang explores the possibilities of artificial organs and the feasibility of transferring them in a drone big enough to fit humans, scientists in Bengaluru are thinking about the immediate future, with real organs, and smaller drones. Which makes the job a bit tricky since these organs come with a shelf life. Kidneys last the longest, 24 hours. A henkghy liver, for 12-15 hours. The heart, unfortunately, doesn’t stay for more than 10 hours, which makes the drones the fastest option available. Will it be the safest? We can only presume.
