In an effort to insulate medical professionals, attending to COVID-19 patients, from infection, a tech company in India's Tamil Nadu has donated four humanoid robots that can deliver medicine to patients in their isolation wards. The company has donated robots to a government health facility in Tiruchirappalli in the southern part of Tamil Nadu.
The hospital dean told national news agency ANI, that "They'll be used if district administration permits".
Tamil Nadu:A pvt software company in Tiruchirappalli has donated humanoid robots to govt hospital in the city for delivering medicines to patients at COVID19 isolation ward. 4 of these robots are currently ready for use. Hospital's Dean says "They'll be used if dist admn permits" pic.twitter.com/uT3VCxq3bn
— ANI (@ANI) March 30, 2020
Earlier in March, news about two robots distributing masks and sanitisers in the state of Kerala also had made headlines.
The robots introduced by a government agency – Kerala Startup Mission – were also spreading awareness about the coronavirus.
Shashi Tharoor, a Congress parliamentarian had tweeted a video of the robots at the time.
Robots dispensing sanitiser & #COVID2019 advice. In Kerala!! pic.twitter.com/TlBETlxXel
— Shashi Tharoor (@ShashiTharoor) March 17, 2020
The perks of allowing robots to share some of the burden is a reduction in the risk of infection to medical professionals and the fact that robots can work uninterruptedly for long hours.
Over the weekend, India's total toll of positive COVID-19 cases crossed the 1,000 mark. According to the federal Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, there are currently 1,024 positive COVID-19 cases in India, including 48 foreign nationals along with 27 recorded fatalities.
