Plans for a robotic dispensing pharmacy have been given the go-ahead - and it will open on June 3.

Island-based pharmaceutical company Kingsley Muti Ltd has a wholesale warehouse on the Balthane Industrial Estate and had applied for an additional use to allow it to be used for a pharmacy dispensing site and pick up place for Manx Care and private prescription medicines.

The pharmacy dispensary will use a robotic machine, 3m in height, to sort and label medicine for dispatch. Kinglsey Muti’s initial application (23/01468/C) was rejected by the planning committee in February by the narrowest of margins, despite being recommended for approval by the planning officer.

The application for BMS House was rejected on the basis that the site is zoned for industrial use and not retail in the Strategic Plan and Southern Area Plan. Kingsley Muti then submitted a new application (24/00312/C) which specifically excluded the retail pharmacy element.

The plan is for the additional use as health centre to allow small part of the building - 50 square metres of the total 700 square metres - to be used for a pharmacy dispensing site and health care service for practicing professionals to deliver care consultations to patients by appointment.

It was approved by the planning committee for five votes to one.

Kingsley Muti’s aim is to be the largest dispensing pharmacy in the island by pioneering robotic medicine dispensing, with a long-term plan to dispense pharmaceuticals around the world.

Medicines, purchased in bulk, would go through a degree of robotic sorting, packaging and dispensing as per the prescription/order and then sent out for collection or delivery.

Manx Care had supported the initial application and added the company to the pharmaceutical list.

But the Department of Health and Social Care had said it did not consider it could register the premises for retail sale or supply given the current planning designation. This time, however, there was no objection from the department.

In a covering letter including with the planning application, Kinglsey Muti said: ‘Our offering in simple terms is private consultations, private prescriptions or the fulfilment of Manx Care prescriptions.

‘There is no retail shop to walk into, and no items placed upon shelves to purchase. All medicines will be supplied on prescription.’

There will be three ways to obtain a medication from Kingsley Muti - by home delivery from an in-house courier through the post office for next day deliver or collection from its warehouse in Balthane.

It foresees only a small portion of collections as most monthly prescriptions are ‘repeats’.

Private consultations will be available for patients with acute needs.

Kingsley Muti said it expects to employ three full time pharmacists, three dispensers, two receptionists and two delivery drivers.