Drone sample testing is cutting TB diagnosis costs from ₹9,451 to ₹91 in Telangana’s Yadadri Bhuvanagiri district

A drone flight costing patients almost nothing could replace journeys that once left suspected tuberculosis (TB) patients spending an average of ₹9,451 out of their own pockets. A study by the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Bibinagar in Telangana has found that transporting sputum samples by drone reduced patients’ average expenditure to just ₹91 while cutting diagnosis time from 15 days to five days.

The study, published in the ‘International Journal of Tuberculosis and Lung Disease’ evaluated the impact of using drones to transport sputum samples from remote villages to TB testing centres in Yadadri Bhuvanagiri district under the Indian Council of Medical Research’s (ICMR) i-DRONE initiative.

Conducted as a quasi-experimental pre-and-post intervention study, the research compared the conventional system, where patients travelled from their villages to Tuberculosis Units (TUs) for testing, with a drone-enabled model in which sputum samples collected at Primary Health Centres (PHCs) and subcentres were flown directly to diagnostic facilities.

The study analysed data from 840 participants, including 206 in the pre-drone phase and 634 during the drone phase.

Before the intervention, suspected TB patients from remote villages, often located 10 km to 30 km from the nearest diagnostic centre, had to travel over poor roads with limited public transport to access GeneXpert or Truenat testing facilities. During the drone phase, patients only needed to visit their nearest PHC or subcentre, where trained healthcare workers collected and securely packaged sputum samples before drones transported them to the designated TB Units. A central command centre at AIIMS Bibinagar coordinated the drone operations across 11 PHCs, 60 subcentres and four TB Units in the district.

The study reported that the median turnaround time for TB diagnosis dropped from 15 days to five days after drones were introduced. Diagnostic delay, measured from the patient’s first contact with a healthcare provider to confirmation of TB, declined from a median of 15 days to five days. While the median patient delay, defined as the period between the onset of symptoms and seeking medical care, remained at six days, researchers observed a reduction in prolonged delays during the drone phase.

The average out-of-pocket expenditure incurred by patients, which included medical expenses, travel, food and wage loss for both patients and attendants, dropped from ₹9,451 to ₹90.9. The intervention also improved reporting times. Before drones were introduced, over 92% of patients waited more than two days to receive their test results. During the drone phase, 76.3% received results the next day, while only 16.3% experienced delays beyond two days.