A new version for hospital on wheels

This could be an exciting breakthrough in the healthcare field in India. At a time when coronavirus pandemic is severely affecting the country, new innovations is an inevitability to boost the healthcare infrastructure. It is in these times that Indian Institute of Technology, Madras (IIT) – incubated start-up, Modulus Housing has developed a portable hospital unit.

Named as ‘Medicab’ , the initiative is a decenteralised approach to detect, screen, identify isolate and treat COVID-19 patients in their local communities through these portable micro-structures. It can be installed anywhere within two hours by four people.

The structure is collapsible and it includes separate sections for doctors, isolation, medical room, an ICU and as many as 15 beds.  All the rooms and wards are maintained at negative pressure. It’s prefabricated structure and telescopic frame allows the portable unit to shrink to one-fifth of its actual size. This makes the unit conveyable and cost effective.

‘Medicab’ has been launched recently in Wayanad district of Kerala. The deployment in Kerala has been undertaken with grant funds from Habitat for Humanity’s Terwilliger Center for Innovation in Shelter.

The startup Modulus Housing was founded by two-IIT alumni in2018 and is supported by the incubation cell of IIT Madras. Their primary focus is to revolutionise housing through modular prefabricated building.

Now the startup is working on a design where the units can be rapidly deployed as isolation wards for COVID-19 patients. They are also working on developing micro hospitals that can be quickly deployed anywhere in the country.