Mohalla clinic gets a medicine dispensing machine

In a first, an automatic medicine vending machine was installed at an aam aadmi mohalla clinic in Todapur on Tuesday, reducing paperwork for doctors at the neighbourhood health centres.

The vending machine, which uses sensor technology to automatically dispense medicines based on a doctor’s prescription, is like a mini-pharmacy. It will have up to 50 different types of medicines, both tablets and syrups.

“Earlier, the medicines were being distributed by the helper, directly under the supervision of the doctor. With the installation of the machine, the patients would be able to collect their medicines directly from the machine,” a government official said

The machine will dispense the medicine only when a doctor prescribes them on a connected tablet, a government official said. He claimed this is the first such machine to be installed in India.

The vending machine will streamline the medicine dispensing protocol, cut the need for a full-time pharmacist, and helps the doctor better manage the medicine stock and keep a check on whether the right drugs are issued.

It frees the doctor from non-clinical activities and allows more time for interaction with patients.

These machines will be installed in nine other mohalla clinics under the first phase. They may be installed in others after a cost-benefit analysis, an official said.

At present, 105 mohalla clinics are running across Delhi under the aam aadmi mohalla clinic project, 1,000 such clinics will be set to strengthen primary health care in the city and reduce the burden on tertiary care hospitals. With agency inputs