'Worthless' Mater Dei Hospital medicine robots cause mass resignations

Two robots tasked with distributing medicine across Mater Dei Hospital in Malta were criticised by the country's nurses union for repeatedly breaking down, stocking the wrong drugs and providing incorrect medicine dosages to patients.

The Deenova robotic system was introduced by the hospital in 2019 to dispense medicines and reduce human error in the distribution and dosage of medicines. The robots, nicknamed Mario, were part of a multi-million-euro investment.

The Malta Union of Midwives and Nurses (MUMN) described the robots as 'worthless' and a 'complete failure', wuth nurses having to double-check the work done by the machines, borrow drugs from adjacent wards, and revert back to the old manual system of medicine distribution.

Furthermore, the union claimed eight nurses in one ward resigned since the robots' introduction, with the rest demanding to be transferred. It demanded that the system was removed.

Malta health minister Chris Fearne defended the introduction of the machines by saying they would increase efficiency and they were meant to help and not replace nurses.