The Indian Institute of Technology Madras-supported start-up has developed a one-of-its-kind foldable and portable hospital unit that can be set up anywhere within two hours by four people.

Modulus Housing Solution, the startup by the IIT alumni, has come up with the micro-hospital to ensure medical facilities to the remotest parts of the country during the coronavirus pandemic.

MediCAB, the foldable portable hospital is composed of four zones including a doctor’s room, an isolation room, a medical room/ward and a twin-bed Intensive Care Unit (ICU).

According to a statement by the start-up, ‘MediCAB’ is ‘a decentralized approach to detect, screen, identify, isolate and treat COVID-19 patients in their local communities through these portable microstructures’.

Shreeram Ravichandran, Chief Executive Officer of the startup said that the pilot project has been launched in Kerala.

Several units have been deployed and according to Ravichandran, the outcome of the project would help in providing the applicability of the technology and advantages of having micro-hospitals in the face of the country’s crumbling medical infrastructure.

‘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 infrastructure that can be converted to hospitals, rural areas do not have a lot of infrastructure,’ Ravichandran added in a statement.

‘It is difficult to construct buildings from scratch as the requirement is immediate. As the rural population density is relatively low, more micro-hospitals can help greatly in tackling COVID-19 cases,’ said Mr Ravichandran.

Modulus is working on a dual design where these can be rapidly launched as COVID-19 isolation wards. Post-COVID-19, these can be transformed into micro-hospitals/clinics in Rural India where the medical infrastructure needs to be augmented. Modulus Housing has set up its manufacturing unit at Chengalpet (located about 35 km from Chennai).

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