Robotic nurses will now deliver food and medicine to coronavirus patients in Tamil Nadu's government-run Stanley Medical College Hospital in a bid to curtail direct contact with the infected people and help avoid spread of the contagion.

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The Health Minister inspected the functioning of the robots at the hospital on April 3 and he said the initiative would help reduce the risk of infection. In a tweet, he said: #update: Visited #Stanley Hospital morning. Checked the functions of #roboticnurses to be used in #corona wards, that can deliver food & medicine. This will limit the amount of direct contact doctors and nurses have with patients, thus reducing the risk of infection."

The robot's arms hold a fixed tray in which food and medicine could be delivered to the designated spot and the equipment is remotely controlled. A demonstration involving the robot (which has an insignia that "I can talk,") was done and the machine carried a jar of water, a tumbler and a sanitiser to a predetermined spot when the Minister visited the hospital. The Stanley hospital, one of the oldest in the city, is also among the designated facilities for treatment of COVID- 19 patient.

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