Malaysian scientists have created a barrel-shaped robot on wheels that they hope will make the rounds on hospital wards to check on coronavirus patients, reducing health workers’ risk of infection. “Medibot” is a 1.5 metre tall (five foot) white robot, equipped with a camera and screen via which patients can communicate remotely with medics. The invention, built by scientists at the International Islamic University Malaysia, is also fitted with a device to check patients’ temperatures remotely.
It is aimed at helping nurses and doctors working on the wards with social distancing, Zulkifli Zainal Abidin, a member of the team behind the invention, told AFP. It cost about 15,000 ringgit ($3,500) to develop, and the university plans to trial it soon in their own private hospital, which does not treat virus patients.
If that proves a success, the scientists hope it can be used in government hospitals where people with COVID-19 are sent. Malaysia has reported 4,683 coronavirus cases, including 76 deaths. From Thailand to Israel, robots are being used in the fight against the coronavirus, which has killed over 110,000 people worldwide. They are being increasingly relied on as fast, efficient, contagion-proof champions in the war against the virus
Large number of health workers becoming infected by the deadly coronavirus
The World Health Organization is expressing alarm at the large number of health workers becoming infected by the deadly coronavirus. The U.N. health agency is appealing for international support to provide health workers with the supplies and other tools needed to keep them safe.
WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said recently that every single person has a role to play in ending this pandemic, which already has claimed more than 100,000 lives worldwide. Among the major players in this grisly drama are the frontline responders, the health care workers who tend to the sick and dying.
While they are putting their lives on the line to save others, Tedros says health workers are not getting the support they need to keep them safe.
According to FNOMCeO, Italy’s main doctors’ association, at least 100 doctors in that country have already died of Covid (as on April 9). In Spain, more than 10% of diagnosed Covid cases are doctors or nurses. The National Health Commission of China reported that up until February 24, 2,055 healthcare workers had been confirmed infected with Covid, with 22 deaths in that nation.
According to reports, more than a dozen doctors have contracted the disease in five Indian states. Recent reports indicate that 48 healthcare workers including four doctors of two prominent hospitals in Mumbai have tested positive.
Healthcare workers across India are also grappling with the shortage of personal protective equipment (PPE), even as the government claims supplies are adequate.
