In the face of increasingly complicated developments regarding the coronavirus (COVID-19), Vietnam should manufacture robots to support care services for patients, experts suggested at a conference in Hanoi on March 18.

Medical experts stated the country has succesfully produced COVID-19 test kits for domestic use and for export, however, it needs to manufacture robots to be used in health facilities in a bid to ease workload and reduce any cross-infection risks in hospitals.  

Scientists and experts hope robots will be manufactured soon
to support the fight against the novel coronavirus

“When the disease broke out, many countries failed to stem the spread of the visrus due to a lack of equipment and personnel,” said Professor Nguyen Van Kinh, Chairman of the Vietnamese Society of Infectious Disease. “In this context, China has made use of the Industry 4.0 technology to manufacture robots to be used in hospitals, such as bringing daily food and drinks for patients, or measuring their temperature.”

Recently during a basic trial of the process, the Central Hospital in Hue transformed a toy car into a ‘special robot’ capable of working as a medical worker to bring daily food and medicine to COVID-19 patients in quarantine. In addition, this ‘robot’ was also able to communicate with patients through a remote-control device. 

“I believe that Vietnam is fully capable of manufacturing such robots as it has won lots of prizes at annual international robotcon contests over the years,” said Professor Kinh, who is also a former director of the National Hospital of Tropical Diseases.

In addition to this, scientists emphasised the need to produce vaccines as an effective and ultimately long-term solution for controlling the virus. Medical experts also proposed setting up strictly-controlled zones aimed at avoiding infection, developing disinfection chambers, investing in respirator manufacturing, and expanding the country’s network of health agencies that are capable of performing tests

Deputy Minister of Science and Technology Pham Cong Tac acknowledged the experts’ proposals, saying that his ministry will work closely with the Ministry of Health and other relevant agencies in order to move forward with their solutions in the near future.