(Eagle News) — To minimize hazards to health workers, Taguig City has come up with a perfect solution for a nurse to assist COVID-19 patients — a robot nurse or simply called a “Robonurse.”
“These robots will physically carry medications and other supplies to Covid-19 patients while the nurses look on from the monitor at the head of the robot,” explained Taguig City mayor Lino Cayetano.
“Amid the pandemic, Taguig has also shown that it is unafraid of technology. This time, to minimize the hazards for our health workers, we will be deploying our ‘Robonurses,’” he said.
Indeed, Taguig City is now using these so-called “Robonurses” to tend to COVID-19 patients as part of efforts to also care for its medical personnel.
The robonurses are helping in Taguig’s Lakeshore Hotel mega quarantine facility which can accommodate up to 500 persons. The facility was set up as a long-term solution amid the continuing virus pandemic. In the facility, each COVID-19 case will be given a room, complete with amenities, and will be served with food — breakfast, lunch, merienda and dinner.
The facility, which was shown to members of the Inter-Agency Task Force on Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID) also has a park for every eight units, allowing for social distancing.
The robonurses will be delivering the food and medicine to the isolated patients staying in the units.
-Technology used to advance virus response-
This highlights the fact that Taguig is not afraid to use technology and very much willing to use it to its advantage, Mayor Cayetano said Tuesday, Sept. 8.
The “Robonurses” are products of Taguig Robotics Team (TRT), the students that created the robots that went viral during the Taguig Cyber Graduations.
Utilization of these cutting edge “Robonurses” are indicative of their commitment to an effective Covid-19 response, Cayetano said.
“We assure our citizens that the good results only encourage us to further improve our systems and look for more areas to innovate. Our Covid-19 plans stretch up to December next year to make sure we will cover the needs of our citizens sufficiently post-pandemic. That means we have time to push the boundaries,” he added.
Taguig has 5,667 confirmed COVID-19 cases as of Wednesday, Sept. 9, but most of these – 5,024 – had already recovered. Active COVID-19 cases in the city which are being monitored are 593. Virus cases, in the meantime, continue to decrease and the city, with its system for COVID-19 response which is turning into a model for other cities to follow.
(Eagle News Service with a video report from Mar Gabriel)
