TIJUANA – Tijuana became this Thursday the first city in Mexico, where a robot was introduced for the distribution of medicines inside pharmacies; This new technology assured the secretary of economy in Baja California, it will serve a millionaire industry on both sides of the border, which every day serves thousands of Americans who arrive in Tijuana to stock up on medicines.
“He grabs the product, he takes pictures of it, he takes the batch, the expiration date and the dimensions,” explained Alberto Castro, next to the Robot installed in the Pey Pharma pharmacy.
The BD Rowa robot, its creators assure, will reduce by up to 33% the time in which the pharmacy manager delivers the medicine to a patient, people who are facing diseases and that increased considerably during the pandemic.
“Too much work, people got desperate, they wanted things faster,” said Adriana Romero, pharmacist assistant.
The 13-meter-long robot will be able to detect the desired medicine following scanning the prescription and will leave it in a mailbox that the pharmacist will take for delivery, which the staff assured will also avoid accidents when looking for medicines on large shelves.
“If accidents have happened when using stairs or something to want to reach something,” said Adriana Romero.
The value of the pharmaceutical industry in Baja California is up to $25 million ($520 million pesos) according to Knobloch audits, which estimate a monthly spill that can reach $11 million per month for drug sales at a demand of almost 50%. of foreigners.
“Given the high costs of medical insurance in the United States, today the Latino population, especially who really do not have the possibility of acquiring medical insurance in the United States, is what they do and if they see dentists, ophthalmologists,” said, Adrian Marmolejo, manager of NADRO Tijuana.
Citizens arriving from Las Vegas, Pennsylvania, Los Angeles and San Diego County in search of medications.
“Before you might come to buy an antibiotic and they would sell it to you as if it were candy, in a candy store, today it is not, that is well regulated. There are large inspections by COFEPRIS or COEPRIS in this case in the state,” he explained. , Adrian Marmolejo, manager of NADRO Tijuana.
And its creators assure, the technology also reduces errors when delivering medicines to citizens.
“They give you a little box of pills that is not it or even in the same hospital they think that a nurse can be very tired, she can make mistakes, we can all make mistakes, only that the mistakes in these cases are terrible,” said Julio Duclos, CEO of BD Mexico and the Caribbean.
And even corruption in the sale of medicines.
“If one establishes from the outset that this medicine has to be given with such a type of prescription, he will ask to dispense that prescription, otherwise he will not be able to dispense it and it is not a place where he can enter,” said Julio Duclos, director general of BD Mexico and Caribbean.
Meanwhile, those who sell in local pharmacies like Adriana, say she hopes this robot will help improve the way she provides her service every day, especially on those days when the clientele outnumbers the staff.
The NAOS group pointed out that an estimated 40% of clients in pharmacies in Baja California are of foreign or American origin, those who come to buy medicines for conditions such as diabetes, hypertension and for plastic and dental surgeries.
