Since the first outbreak of COVID-19, hospitals in the countries most affected by the pandemic have been struggling to increase their Intensive-Care unit (ICU) capacity to admit a growing number of patients with severe respiratory diseases, in need of ventilators. Whatever the evolution of the pandemic, it is expected that more ICUs will be needed internationally.
Each compact module is equipped for biocontainment as an extractor creates indoor negative pressure. The units comply with the standards of Airborne Infection Isolation Rooms (AIIRs).
The objective of CURA is to improve the efficiency of existing solutions in the design of field hospitals, tailoring them to the current pandemic. The project provides ICU for patients with COVID-19 in compact, reversible and re-usable hospital pods. It aims to facilitating the work of medical staff and avoiding cross infection and hospital bottle-neck.
Each unit works autonomously and it can be shipped anywhere. Individual pods are connected by an inflatable structure to create multiple modular configurations (from 4 beds to over 40), which can be deployed in just a few hours.
Some pods can be placed in proximity to a hospital (e.g. in parking lots), while others could be used to create self-standing field hospitals of varying sizes.
In addition to the standard pods, we have developed an expandable version that can host up to four intensive care beds as well as other functions such as operating theatres.