SWOOP AERO: Reasons for considering Assam as next location for deployment

1) Although Swoop Aero’s primary competency may hitherto have been in the transportation of
vaccines to areas that are inaccessible by road (as was the case in their drone operations in
Vanuatu), there is a compelling case to be made for the deployment of Swoop Aero’s
technology in Assam to deliver on-time, emergency medical supplies especially blood

2) I think that the company ought to consider Assam as their next deployment location
primarily on the basis of the total, immediate impact that it can create in the region, by virtue
of both the severity of the healthcare issue in place and the aptness of the company’s
technology to ameliorate that issue.

3) Assam does not suffer from access to vaccination, however one area that it has been plagued
by, is an access to on-time blood supply

4) India has the most maternal deaths in the world, with an abysmal national maternal
mortality ratio (MMR) of 130 deaths per 100,000 live births. Across studies of maternal
deaths, post-partum haemorrhage (PPH) has been typically identified as the leading cause of
maternal deaths at ~35% of all cases. PPH is also the quickest of maternal killers; it can kill a
healthy woman within two hours, if not treated.

5) Assam is essentially ground zero for this problem. It has the worst MMR in the country, at
almost double the national average, with 237 deaths per 100,000 live births (way higher than
the MMR of the next worst state at 165). Thereby, one could ascertain that PPH is
responsible for ~83 deaths per 100,000 live births in Assam. Considering the fact that India
has perennially had a poor record of registering deaths, one can reasonably estimate that the
number of maternal deaths in Assam caused as a result of PPH to be much much higher.

6) This problem has been exacerbated by the fact that Assam has the highest number of districts
(administrative division of an Indian state or territory) without a blood bank with
approximately 8 -12 districts lacking access to a blood bank (data varies)

7) The total landmass of the districts lacking blood banks comes close to a humongous
~11,200km² or ~15% of the total landmass of Assam, & affecting over 4 million people

8) One report states that ~3/4th of all the maternal deaths in Assam occur in it’s tea garden
estates. As per my experience, tea gardens are often quite densely concentrated in a district,
with a number of gardens often adjacent to each other; meaning that the total possible area
to be covered by Swoop Aero’s drones would potentially be lower. Additionally, tea garden
estates are mandated by law to have an infirmary on site with a doctor at hand. This would
mean that Swoop Aero’s drones would have a predetermined set of appropriate landing sites,
with a qualified medical professional at hand to administer the medical supply, thereby
dramatically reducing the likelihood of death in a PPH scenario.

9) Another scenario where Swoop Aero’s technology could be enormously useful would be
deployment during Assam’s flooding season each Monsoon. Almost every single year without
fail, Assam suffers from catastrophic floods which on average affect ~3 million people and
kill ~50 people annually. This year itself, the floods killed over 90 people and displaced over
a million people from their homes. Naturally, over the course of the floods, access & delivery
of medical supplies is notoriously difficult - a situation where Swoop Aero’s technology can
provide immediate dividends. In this scenario, the time sensitivity of delivery although still
high, may be relatively lower than in the case of treating PPH wherein only a maximum 2
hour window may exist.