On Jul. 7, 2020, Royal Philips announced it had introduced first-of-its-kind mobile Intensive Care Units (ICUs) in India. Designed to meet the critical-care requirements of patients, each prefabricated ICU has a capacity of nine beds. The units will be locally manufactured by Philips in India, with each ICU unit capable of being deployed in one day.

India is in the top 5 countries with the highest amount of COVID-19 cases. The country’s healthcare system is under immense pressure as infections spike. Leveraging its clinical, technical and design expertise, Philips has developed new mobile ICUs to address the challenging needs of critical-care services in India. They will be useful to government agencies and health systems looking to rapidly increase ICU capacity and enhance community outreach with the aim to mitigate the impact of natural disasters and pandemics such as the ongoing COVID-19 outbreak.

With a floor area of 1380 square feet (128 square meters), these self-sufficient units only require an on-site electricity and water connection to become operational. Each mobile ICU comes pre-equipped with a state-of-the-art critical-care infrastructure, such as independent patient cubicles, plus anti-bacterial paint and high-end washrooms with a self-disinfection facility to avoid cross contamination. The ICUs can be furnished with a range of medical equipment, including ventilators, defibrillators, a central monitoring station and CPAP (Continuous Positive Airway Pressure) machines, with appropriate supporting infrastructure such as back-up power, oxygen and vacuum supplies.