ATMs in Taiwan are reportedly dispensing face masks in the fight against coronavirus.
According to media reports in Taiwan, in Taipei City’s Xinyi District Health Center, residents are queuing to get face masks from ATMs.
Reports say Taipei has started selling face masks in automated machines, a technological slant to a medical purchase.
The method lightens the workload of pharmacists who were spending precious time distributing the gear to people, reports say.
The surgical masks are purchased through the Name-Based Mask Distribution System amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
“There has to be sets of equipment at certain places to help us implement the Name-Based Mask Distribution System and determine who can buy,” Lu Hsin-ke, Commissioner at Taipei City Government’s Department of Information Technology, is quoted as saying.
“When a buyer is certified, allowed to buy and has paid, the buyer has to obtain the masks. Automatic mask vending machines can implement this whole procedure to make it even simpler with less or no workforce and more efficiency. They can also lower the risks of infection via human contact,” he added.
“Each machine is able to serve two people within one minute. Therefore, each machine can serve 1,100 customers a day.
Taipei City Government has set a goal of serving 1,200 people in total (at each machine).
Now, each machine’s performance is exceeding what we have been expecting. Their speed is really fast.”
By Melvin Tarlue