A solar-powered mobile multi-speciality hospital, made in Kothamangalam | Video

It is a hospital on wheels, runs on solar power, can reach any nook and cranny of the state, and can provide healthcare services that are usually offered by a brick and mortar hospital.

The latest innovation by Ojes Automobiles of Kothamangalam in Kerala's Ernakulam district is a vehicle modified to offer super speciality medical services in times of emergency in the ambulance itself. The solar-powered mobile-medicine unit can be called as a mini-super speciality hospital.

Ojes is a leading coach maker known for providing amazing makeovers to vehicles. Having won international repute by making a mobile gym and ultra-luxury vehicles, Ojes is set to make waves in mobile-medicine field too.

Though such multi-speciality hospitals have been set up in trains in the past, buses and other smaller vehicles converted into mobile healthcare facilities are rare to find. The importance of such vehicles doubles during natural disasters and other calamities since they can reach villages and other interior areas that may lack medical and transport facilities.

Mobile hospital

Ojes Body Builders can stake claim to building a solar-powered mobile telemedicine unit in India. It first felt the need for such a vehicle and built one after the tsunami struck in 2004. "The practicality and quality of the vehicle encouraged Amritakripa Hospital authorities to approach us for this unit,” says Ojes MD Biju.

The vehicle has been built under the Corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiative of Reserve Bank's Note Paper Mill. The lack of electricity at the destination won't affect the vehicle since it can function fully with solar power.

Chassis from Ashok Leyland

The vehicle has been built on an Ashok Leyland Lynx chassis. The vehicle is around 30 feet long. To enable it to negotiate any challenging road condition, the length of the vehicle has been reduced to 7.75 feet. The ground clearance too has been reduced so that the elderly can board the vehicle easily. The vehicle has all the facilities of an actual hospital like an examination room, X-ray room and lab. "Surgeries too can be conduction inside the mobile unit if needed," says Biju.

The mobile unit by Ojes is sure to herald big innovations in the field of mobile-medicine.