FORTIS HOSPITAL, BANNERGHATTA ROAD INTRODUCES ROBOT FOR COVID-19 SCREENING

Bangalore:  In a bid to protect the healthcare workers and intensify the screening process, Fortis Hospital, Bannerghatta Road has introduced Mitra robot for COVID-19 screening. The initiative has been taken to screen each and every visitor including doctors, nurses, medical and non-medical staff entering the hospital.

The robot interacts using facial and speech recognition contextual help and autonomous navigation and screens the visitor for symptoms for COVID-19 i.e fever, cough, and cold. This initiative will allow healthcare workers to remain at a safe distance from the highly infectious coronavirus. 

The robotic screening is carried out in two phases. The first robot placed at the entrance of the hospital conducts basic screening that includes temperature check followed by a few questions on symptoms of cough and cold.  If the temperature of that individual is normal with no signs of cough and cold, the robot prints an entry pass that mentions screening results as pass along with the name and picture of the individual. In case, an individual has a high temperature or confirms to the robot about cough and cold, the robot will print the pass that will state screening result as fail. Based on this screening result, the person will be guided to the next robot who will connect the individual to the flu clinic that will allow the doctor to further diagnose the individual without any physical contact. 

Commenting on this initiative, Dr Manish Mattoo, Zonal Director, Fortis Hospitals, Bangalore, said, “The high infection rates among health care workers across the world have hampered efforts to tackle COVID-19 pandemic that prompted us to consider robotic screening. We are screening the patients, their attendees, and our staff at the hospital entrance to ensure no one with the symptoms of COVID-19 is entering the hospital premises. With our OPDs being resumed, the chances of transmitting the virus can also increase. Thus, this process will help us minimize the chances of virus transmission through human contact.”