Bangkok's Siriraj Hospital to use robots in dispensing medicines

BANGKOK, March 16 (TNA) - Bangkok's Siriraj Hospital will use robots in a dispensing process at its pharmacies by the end of this year to increase efficiency and reduce waiting time for outpatients. Dr. Prasit Watanapa, Dean of the Faculty of Medicine, Siriraj Hospital's, told journalists on March 15 that with the use of the automated system in the preparation process, the medication dispensing service will be completed within 15 minutes for each outpatient. Dr. Prasit said the robots will be developed under the cooperation of Sirairaj Hospital, the Thailand Centre of Excellence for Life Sciences (TCELES), the Institute of FIeld RoBOtics (FIBO) and Supreme Hitera Co., Ltd., after their Wednesday's signing of the agreement. According to the dean, Siriraj Hospital, Thailand’s largest hospital with 223 pharmacists, will not reduce its personnel, but the robots will help increase efficiency in the dispensary process. The dean explained that pharmacists will check the medicines in the last dispensary process before handing them out to patients. With the help of the robots, the dean acknowledged, pharmacists will have more time to explain the use of medicine to patients. (TNA)