India created world’s first portable hospital

India unveiled its portable “flatpack” field hospital that helicopters may transport to disaster areas. Once it arrives, paramedics can assemble them faster than an Ikea bookcase. It contains various critical medical equipment usually found only in brick-and-mortar hospitals. As a result, rescuers could save more lives in disasters and war zones.

Emergencies like floods, earthquakes, and battlefields severely injure many. First responders learn first aid to provide immediate care, but those methods are typically not enough. They could rush them to a nearby hospital, but that is often not an option. Consequently, a portable hospital could assist these brave people to save more lives than ever.

This article will discuss how the world’s first portable hospital works. Later, I will cover other recent healthcare breakthroughs.

How does the portable hospital work?

India-based news network WION said this portable disaster hospital is named the AarogYa Matri Cube. “We have designed this hospital that can be assembled and installed within one hour of reaching the emergency site,” Amit Chaudhary, Packers Products’ managing director.

“It can be used in any emergency area or disaster-hit area, whether it is an earthquake, flood, forest fire, or even a war. It can treat bullet wounds and can treat up to 200 patients at any given point in time,” he added. 

The AarogYa Matri Cube is divided and contained into 72 small waterproof cubes, each measuring 38cm x 38cm x 38cm (15” x 15” x 15”) and weighing 15kg. Also, they contain tents and specially designed medical equipment, including:

• Small intensive-care units
• Operating theater
• Portable X-ray machine
• Ultrasound machines
• Ventilators
• Solar generators
• Water station
• Cooking station

HLL Lifecare, the portable hospital’s designer, lauded its versatility. Consultant Dr. Ankita Sharma said, “If the immediate need at the site is for life-saving surgery, then the operating theater can be assembled first.”

“This takes just 10 minutes. The doctors can start surgery while the remaining cubes are assembled,” she added. The Guardian says only 60 cubes are mandatory; the remaining 12 are for different situations.

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“If it’s an earthquake where you get lots of fractures, then you pack in more cubes containing equipment for bone injuries and remove some of the bleeding injury kits needed for soldiers with bullet or bomb injuries,” Sharma said.

This mobile facility is part of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ambitious healthcare initiative, the “Aarogya Maitri Project.” It supports low-income countries affected by natural disasters.

“The hospital is a small contribution by India to humanitarian work around the world,” the consultant said. “We are now ready to share it with any country that needs it.”

Other recent healthcare innovations

India developed a way to provide immediate physical healthcare in disaster areas. On the other hand, Korea created an artificial intelligence that can detect autism with 100% accuracy.

Even better, it is non-invasive because it only requires eye scans. The Korean researchers started developing their autism detector by taking retinal photographs of 1,890 eyes of 958 participants under 19 years of age. 

They selected participants from the Severance Hospital, the Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, and Yonsei University College of Medicine in Korea.

They also gathered retinal photographs from people with typical development (TD) matching the autism participants’ ages and sexes. In other words, they took eye photos of those without autism as a separate control group.

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Then, the team created a convolutional neural network. It is a deep learning algorithm that trains AI models for ASD to assess and screen symptom severity. 

AI training involved 85% of the retinal images and corresponding scores from symptom severity tests. Conversely, they reserved the 15% for testing purposes.

The AI model can accurately identify children with an ASD diagnosis. It yielded a mean area under the receiver operating characteristic (AUROC) curve of 1.00. A “1” means the model predicts autism with 100% accuracy.

Conclusion

India created the world’s first portable hospital to help third-world countries experiencing natural disasters. It is easy to transport and assemble, enabling first responders to provide crucial healthcare services. 

After all, every second counts for those severely injured after an earthquake, flood, or battle. The Guardian says India gave AarogYa Matri Cubes to Myanmar and Sri Lanka.

Soon, your country may have one responding to emergencies. Learn more about the latest digital tips and trends at Inquirer Tech.