Portable Hospital Unit for COVID Patients

Context

IIT-Madras startup develops customizable, portable hospital units that can be assembled under two hours.

Background

Modulus Housing, a start-up supported by the Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IIT-M), has created a portable hospital that can be installed anywhere within two hours. It has named MediCAB, the hospital unit is meant for detection, screening, identification, isolation and treatment of Covid-19 patients. The outcome of this pilot project in Kerala will help in proving the applicability of the technology and advantages of micro hospitals, with MediCAB as an instant infrastructure solution.

Health infrastructure is crucial in fighting any pandemic. With a contagious disease such as Covid-19, it is essential to have smart health infrastructure to screen, contain and treat people.

In Detail

MediCAB was deployed in the Wayanad district in Kerala to treat coronavirus patients. It is foldable and comprises a doctor’s room, an isolation room, a medical room/ward and a twin-bed ICU, which is maintained at negative pressure.

The portable hospital consists of 15 beds, an area of 800 ft2 and is fire, water and termite-resistant. It comes with built-in bathrooms and electrical exhausts, as well as air conditioning, fans and lighting. When folded, the collapsible cabins can be reduced five-fold, making it very cost-effective for transportation.

Health Infrastructure Is the Need of the Hour

Health infrastructure is crucial in fighting any pandemic. With a contagious disease such as Covid-19, it is essential to have smart health infrastructure to screen, contain, and treat people. Unlike urban areas where there is plenty of existing infrastructures that can be converted to hospitals, rural areas do not have a lot of infrastructures. It is difficult to construct buildings from scratch as the requirement is immediate. As the rural population density is relatively low, more micro-hospitals help greatly in tackling Covid-19 cases.

Advantages

It can help in the places in rural areas that lack the basic infrastructure. It is better to isolate Covid-19 patients in negative pressure rooms than to keep them in large halls in schools and colleges. The portable model comes with an exhaust, industrial dome which ensures ventilation. The structure can provide immediate relief tn the pandemics similar to COVID 19, as a large scale structure can be set up in short time to operationalize large health camps.

In Negative pressure rooms, the air pressure inside the room is lower than the air pressure outside the room. This means that when the door is opened, potentially contaminated air or other dangerous particles from inside the room will not flow outside into non-contaminated areas. Instead, non-contaminated filtered air will flow into the negative pressure room. Contaminated air is sucked out of the room with exhaust systems, which are built with filters that clean the air before it is pumped outside of and away from the healthcare facility.

The end product would finally be available at around 15 lakhs after electrical fittings, plumbing, flooring and false ceiling are done.

Conclusion

India has 0.7 beds per 1,000 persons. Innovations such as the MediCAB will help boost the healthcare infrastructural in India as it can be rapidly transported (Six units can fit in a truck). It can be deployed at any time and to any place.

Post-Pandemic, these cabins can be re-modelled into micro-hospitals/clinics for rural places. They can be easily shifted and placed there. Modulus has already been operating in three sectors like construction and infrastructure, oil and gas and healthcare. Modulus is also looking at expanding to sectors such as event management, tourism and the defence forces.

Connecting the Article

Question for Prelims

Which of the following can be the benefits of portable hospital units ?

1. It can help in providing immediate relief in the pandemic.
2. It can help to provide medical facilities to the distant villages.

Select the correct answer using the code given below:

(a) 1 only
(b) 2 only
(c) Both 1 and 2
(d) Neither 1 nor 2

Question for Mains

‘Innovation is the remedy of all epidemics.’ Comment.