It can dispense medicines at a rate of up to 12 prescriptions in less than a minute

The Dubai Health Authority (DHA) have announced the opening of a new smart pharmacy at Dubai Hospital in Deira – manned by a robot pharmacist.

This first-of-its-kind pharmacy is designed to help dispense and prescribe medicine to hospital patients with greater speed and accuracy than its human counterparts.

Unlike the humanoid ‘robocop’ that joined the Dubai Police force earlier this year, the robot pharmacist is more akin to an automated dispensary, able to store up to 35,000 medicines and can dispense around 12 prescriptions in less than a one minute.

The system is completely paperless and works electronically by scanning barcodes, in an effort to minimize human error.

Don’t worry, there will still be humans present during the process, the automated system simply allows the flesh and blood pharmacists to focus on instructing patients on how to take their medication and answering other questions.

This is actually the second robot to be installed in a hospital pharmacy by the DHA, the first being Rashid Hospital back in January. Humaid Al Qatami, chairman of the board and Director-General of DHA, has confirmed that similar systems will be rolled out to all DHA hospitals over the coming months.

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Image: DHA