TORONTO - Kiosks that resemble bank machines but instead take prescriptions and dispense medicine 24 hours a day are coming to hospitals in Ontario.
And supporters of the so-called "pharmacy in a box" say it is the future of the profession.
But Dennis Darby from the Ontario Pharmacists' Association says a machine can never replace the patient-pharmacist relationship.
The ATM-like kiosk dispenses pills like a vending machine and has a video screen linked to a real pharmacist who can talk to the patient.
The pharmacist has full control of the medication being dispensed.
Four of the PharmaTech kiosks have already landed in Toronto-area hospitals.
A pilot project at Sunnybrook in Toronto has dispensed hundreds of prescriptions without a single error since last March.
