Bahrain - The revolutionary use of medical robots in the nation’s fight against the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic will mark a qualitative shift in the diagnosis and treatment of illnesses in the kingdom, according to health officials.
The GDN reported last Wednesday that authorities had deployed these medical devices at Covid-19 isolation and treatment centres. As an experiment, the Health Ministry put three robots to use at the Ebrahim Khalil Kanoo Health Centre isolation facility.
The first robot transports medicine and food and is equipped with a thermal camera to register body temperature and convey it to the control centre, while the second robot disinfects isolation rooms and surrounding facilities.
The third robot was used to transport medical equipment and was characterised by its agility and ability to carry heavy weights.
According to the ministry’s assistant under-secretary for resources and services and head of the project to use robots for health services Fatima Al Ahmed, the introduction of the robots marked a fundamental change in the way illnesses will be diagnosed and treated in the kingdom.
She said Bahrain had decided to use modern technology to minimise direct exposure of healthcare workers to active Covid-19 cases.“Three types of robots were introduced in isolation and treatment wards, and nurses are being trained to use and programme them,” she said, adding that the robots had been provided by a French company based in Bahrain.
She also highlighted that the robots can be used to provide various nursing services such as measuring temperature and vitals as well as dispensing medication and monitoring the patients while also providing meals and disinfection along with other services needed by patients.Salmaniya Medical Complex infectious and internal diseases consultant Dr Jameela Al Salman said Bahrain was pioneering this practice in the Gulf and the experiment was aimed at evaluating the performances of the robots.
“These devices will provide more protection to medical personnel and reduce the transmission of disease as well as protect sanitation workers from constant exposure to chemicals,” she said.“They will also reduce time and effort needed by medical personnel and this is the first step towards using robots at health centres and it’s a pioneering experiment in Bahrain and the Gulf.”
The GDN reported previously that one of the robots can speak 12 different languages, and identify patients through facial recognition, using Artificial Intelligence technology.
Meanwhile, the ministry’s medical projects engineer Ali Al Sabah highlighted that Robot Net 20 distributes food and medication to patients and can also recognise the patient’s face while being monitored over the Internet from the control centre.“The patient can communicate with the physician through the robot which reduces the risk of transmission to medical personnel by 80 per cent and reduces the cost of sanitising the medical team,” he stated.“
Meanwhile, the Robot Infirmiere Nurse Robot also distributes medication and meals while also having the ability to be equipped with modern medical devices such as ventilators, ECG and blood pressure monitors and others.“It also has a thermal camera to transmit the patient’s temperature online and can also be used at reception to prevent any patient with higher temperature from walking in; it gives a warning if the temperature is above 37.3.
“The Robot Net 21 is a disinfection robot that can sanitise quarantine constantly as well as operation theatres without human interference and it can also be remote-controlled and is equipped with facial recognition cameras and is able to communicate disinfection voice messages in various languages.”
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