Improving the Concept of Medication Vending Machine in the Light of COVID-19 and other Pandemics

Abstract

Pandemics are usually followed by a large number of infected people, enormous number of critical patients and unavoidable fatal outcomes. If the disease is transmitted by contact, one of the most important measures for preventing the spread of the disease is social distancing. Ensuring social distancing is one of the most difficult tasks of the governments of countries during the pandemic. It has been shown in practice that any measure or way to increase social distance significantly reduces the number of victims and shortens the duration of the pandemic. This paper proposes a modification of the existing concept of a vending machine for distributing drugs (medication vending machines - MVM), which would enable better social distancing in the case of pandemics/epidemics, such as the current COVID-19 pandemic. The proposed modification is adapted to the healthcare system organization that exists in the Republic of Serbia and can be implemented in similar health care systems, such as in the neighboring countries (Western Balkan countries).