Two robotic computer systems that were bought in December 2017 to handle the administration of medicine are "a complete failure and a waste of money," The Malta Union of Midwives and Nurses (MUMN) said 

"Such robotic systems, which were named 'Mario' and 'Sophia', were supposedly to be easily used by nurses in the administration of oral drugs at Mater Dei Hospital (MDH). They should have guaranteed a system totally free from any errors where drug administration is concerned."

"For two whole years such systems failed so frequently, that it surpassed any form of human error and made the nurses' work more difficult due to the wrong medications/wrong dosages given by such robots to the patients." 

"For two whole years, wrong drugs and wrong doses were being supplied to the nurses by these robotic machines.  If it was not for the nurses who repeatedly had to double and triple check the drugs procured by such robots, the patients would have ended up taking the wrong medication. Not to mention that such electronic machines removed all accessibility for urgent treatment which was being ordered by doctors from time to time."

The huge machines took two vital rooms in the wards which were used for storage, making it more difficult for the nurses to store disposable items in the wards, the MUMN said. 

"Frequently, 'Mario' or 'Sophia' would cease to function completely, leaving the nurses stranded with no drugs to give to patients. The nurses responsible then had to borrow drugs from other adjacent wards in MDH since no drugs were available at their ward," the MUMN said.

"When MUMN repeatedly drew the attention to such continuous failures over these last two years, MDH management would always respond with the following phrases: 'We are tacking the issues', 'these are nitty and gritty points', 'We are aware of these issues but rest assured we are working to solve them,' or 'It will take us some time to settle but eventually we will address these issues.'" 

"For two whole years, the nurses and the MUMN have been swindled through a multi-million euro project which never took off and never provided any reliable service to the patients. It just added more stress and extra work for the nurses striving to give a simple pill to their patients."

Such equipment which was supposed to make the distribution of medicine "easier" and "error free" turned out to be the complete opposite, the MUMN said.

"The reality after two years is that drug administration has become a nightmare for nurses."

The MUMN said that the project manager of this €25 million project resigned. "Not to mention that in these two years, four sets of technicians who were responsible for such machines also resigned due to the continuous errors and collapse of the system."

The machines are now based in M5, M6 and Urology 2 wards. "In M5, the ward which endured most of the pilot project for two whole years, all Maltese nurses are currently requesting a transfer, while the ward also has eight nursing vacancies."

The MUMN also slammed another project at MDH called Denova, which was meant to complement the robotics' system, seeing a private contractor provide disposable supplies. "This was an another complete and utter failure which resulted in nurses being ignored by the contractor, leaving nurses in the wards with vital disposable items out of stock to the detriment of the patients. Yet again, nurses ended up running all over MDH borrowing disposable items for their patients. One disaster after another."

"The Health Division is in totally denial and would not admit that €25 million of tax payer's money has been spent on worthless machines which are a complete failure."

"Such robotic machinery and Denova were introduced without any consultation taking place with the MUMN. Even when it was evident that such systems are failing miserably, they were still spread to other wards".

For this reason, the MUMN is issuing directives with immediate effect. "All nurses in MDH are not to do any work related to or training on such robotic machines and Denova. While nurses in M5, M6 and Urology two are to revert back to the old system being used throughout MDH for drug administration by 30 August 2021."

MUMN said that the robotic systems should be removed from MDH.