5 x 20-bed Medical Field Hospitals for COVID19 – Philips Foundation, Noaber Foundation, AFAS
In March, Hospitainer received an order from the Philips Foundation for a modular 20-bed field hospital. Hospitainer had received similar orders from the Foundation previously, but this time they didn’t want just one hospital. This time, the order was for five 20-bed field hospitals. Not exactly a small order, but Hospitainer went to work to get everything packed and mission-ready.
Once they were packed and ready, the hospitals were handed over to the Philips Foundation to be deployed as needed. In the following months the Philips Foundation cooperated with the Noaber Foundation to donate these hospitals and they were sent all over the world to provide aid.
Three hospitals were sent to the Covid ravaged Italy, one went to the Democratic Republic of Congo and another went to Beirut. Most were intended to provide isolation and treatment for patients suffering from COVID-19, which would reduce the strain on local hospitals.
However, the hospital intended for Beirut was the exception. While the modular nature of the hospital allowed it to easily be turned into a COVID-19 treatment ward when Beirut’s situation became less dire, it was initially meant to offer a different kind of aid.
On the 4th of August, Beirut was rocked by one of the most powerful non-nuclear explosions in history when a large amount of improperly stored ammonium nitrate exploded. At least 204 people died, 6500 were injured and 300.000 were left homeless. The Hospitainer field hospital donated by the Philips Foundation was intended to provide medical aid to the injured and take some of the pressure off of the hospitals and organizations already operating in the area.
The situation in Beirut demonstrated not only the flexibility of the Hospitainer mobile field Hospital, but also the fact that we can rapidly deliver a custom-made solution. It makes us proud of what we do and why we do it.
