Jane's & Gulf Defence Magazine

Jane's & Gulf Defence Magazine, Tridex 03/1998, page 11

FIELDING MOBILE HOSPITALS
By Brian WALTERS

At least two exhibitors at TRIDEX '98 are promoting their skills in the design and production of mobile field hospitals. From Belgium, the MODULMED exhibit features modular medical units that are both air portable and easily erected in less than an hour, by day or night. Already in service with armed forces in Saudi Arabia, the mobile surgical hospitals are also NATO AQAP 4 quality approved and completely self-supporting.

Sized to conform to international container standards, the modules can be accommodated in C-130 Hercules transport aircraft or carried by flat-bed trucks. Alternatively the modules can be mounted and indeed operated on trailers, thus speeding their readiness for service. The hospital modules are tailored to the specific needs of the user, but a typical layout comprises an operating theater fitted with X-ray equipment, and a pre-operating unit with two beds equipped for resuscitation procedures and minor surgery. The pre-operating unit is directly linked to the operating theatre, isolating it from the outside. Indeed, there is a separate entry compartment for staff which houses scrub facilities and is also used as a dark room. The post-operation recovery unit has folding walls which enables it to be enlarged from its standard container size in order to accommodate ten patients. The standard hospital unit comprises four modules and has been subjected to a 1000 km endurance trial over a NATO test track.

First produced in 1980, the MODULMED field hospital has been exported to several countries including Saudi Arabia