WATCH: Germ-killing robot ‘of the future’ cleans Springs hospital

The Netcare N17 Hospital has introduced a germ-zapping robot to help create a cleaner hospital.

The robot, named Laurie, uses pulsed ultra-violet (UV) light to disinfect the facility and decrease bio-burdens faced by the hospital.

The UV-light pulses 60 times per second to kill all micro-organisms.

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It works on a five-minute cycle and can be moved to where it is needed.

Laurie can clean both standard rooms and isolation rooms.

All the staff has to do in order to facilitate this cleaning is open all doors in the room, remove the linen on the beds and hang objects that come into contact with patients, like a blood pressure cuff on the IV pole.

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Laurie does this cleaning without releasing any toxins or chemicals that could be harmful to patients and staff and has several safety features such as a motion detector that stops the machine from working if someone enters the room.

This new robot is a big improvement from the fogging machine that was previously used where the section being cleaned had to be cordoned off followed by a two-hour waiting period.

There is no waiting period with this machine and the room can be used immediately after.

The germ-zapping device is there to complement the cleaning and infection control procedures that are already in place.

It is simply an added layer of cleaning and is there to work alongside the staff.

Annelie Heydenrych, an infection control practitioner at the Netcare N17 Hospital says, “This is huge for Netcare. It is revolutionary and the aim is to sanitise the environment so there is less chance of patients getting hospital-acquired infections.

“We expect to see an improvement in infection statistics over the next few months.”

The Netcare group has this machine in its facilities across the country.