A hospital struggling to cope with soaring numbers of patients has solved the problem - by using robot nurses.

The Mongkutwattana General Hospital in Bangkok, Thailand, was bombarded with new patients but was unable to hire enough staff at the end of last year.

Instead of taking on new nurses, they bought three robotic nurses and kitted them out in the health facility's yellow uniform.

The machines travel now between desks delivering important paperwork and medicine to doctors.

Hospital boss Dr Riantong said the robots - dubbed Nan, Nee and Nim- improved efficiency and reduced human error. He said: ''There are seven or eight stations in this hospital.

''We use the three robotic nurses to deliver documents to and from each station.

''These robotic nurses help to improve the efficiency and performance of working in the hospital.They are not being used to reduce the number of employees.''

The robots are shaped like humans and travel along magnetic strips attached to the ground.

''They can travel more than 100 metres throughout the hospital for a single trip - each one covering several miles a day.''

Dr Naennaa, a specialist in neuroscience, said he is now planning to extend the use of the robots into the pharmacy units where they will pick and organise medicine.

He added: ''I believe that all hospitals facing problems have thought about adopting them.

''They help to reduce errors, increase the rapidity of working, and lighten the load of hospital officers’ work.''