A hospital struggling to cope with soaring numbers of patients has solved the problem - by using robot nurses.<br /><br />The Mongkutwattana General Hospital in Bangkok, Thailand, was bombarded with new patients but was unable to hire enough staff at the end of last year.<br /><br />Instead of taking on new nurses, they bought three robotic nurses and kitted them out in the health facility's yellow uniform. <br /><br />The machines travel now between desks delivering important paperwork and medicine to doctors. <br /><br />Hospital boss Dr Riantong said the robots - dubbed Nan, Nee and Nim- improved efficiency and reduced human error. He said: ''There are seven or eight stations in this hospital. <br /><br />''We use the three robotic nurses to deliver documents to and from each station.<br /><br />''These robotic nurses help to improve the efficiency and performance of working in the hospital.They are not being used to reduce the number of employees.''<br /><br />The robots are shaped like humans and travel along magnetic strips attached to the ground. <br /><br />''They can travel more than 100 metres throughout the hospital for a single trip - each one covering several miles a day.''<br /><br />Dr Naennaa, a specialist in neuroscience, said he is now planning to extend the use of the robots into the pharmacy units where they will pick and organise medicine.<br /><br />He added: ''I believe that all hospitals facing problems have thought about adopting them. <br /><br />''They help to reduce errors, increase the rapidity of working, and lighten the load of hospital officers’ work.''
