We have been hearing for quite sometime about robots representing doctors in their absence but now actually for the first time in Canada a Robo-doctor carried out a diagnosis of a patient in an isolated Cape Breton hospital. This was possible thanks to the handsome $400,000 donation made by Joseph Shannon to the Queen Elizabeth II Health Sciences Centre Foundation. The robot was purchased from a California company, In touch Technologies Inc. This technology-a remote presence robot, boxy unit with a screen showing the physician's face made it possible for a doctor in Halifax to examine a patient five hours away at Cape Breton Regional. It seems that patients quickly become comfortable speaking with the robot and forget it's a piece of technology examining them.

The authorities believe that the robot will attract doctors who want to work with such advanced technology for consultations with specialists in other cities and other applications. The robot is equipped with a powerful lens that sees better than a human eye and the technology can hold a patient's electronic records and tests and access them immediately. A doctor using a laptop and an Internet connection operates the machine.
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