Will India be Able to Tackle Natural Disasters through Portable Disaster Hospitals?

Most of the countries have their own formulated disaster management policies. They prepare and teams and train them to fight with various types of the disasters including earthquakes, flood, cyclonic storms, tsunamis, bomb blasts and many more. We would like to say that the authors have nicely written and brought out many pertinent points in the review on disaster management.[1] Disaster preparedness is a continuum process, where experience in each disaster provides valuable experience through identification of scopes for improvement by identifying the lacunae in preparedness, mobilization of resources, casualty evacuation, and setting up facilities for those affected. Integration of newer technologies helps resolve and manage the problems faced previously. Sending medicines and other supplies to hilly, difficult-to-reach areas by drones is one of the examples of newer technologies.[2] Hospitals, medical task force, and medical supplies are one of the primary needs of disaster medicine. As most of the disasters present without warning, countries have to be prepared with personnel, material, and protocols which can act promptly in case a disaster strikes.[3] Although mobile hospitals are not new in concept as they have been in vogue especially in defense forces in times of war in form of mobile field hospitals in army, hospital ships in navy and air ambulances in air force, their deployment or application in peace is relatively lacking. Recently, the Indian government has conceptualized and built portable disaster hospitals (PDHs) which have potential to be an important milestone in disaster medicine and public health preparedness. This PDH structure includes mini intensive care unit equipped with ventilators, X-ray machine, blood analyzer, and operation theater (OT). It also comes with makeshift wards, cooking station, shelter, provision for clean water, and sanitation. Since this facility will need full time power supply, it is equipped with power generator too. This can be packed into 72 cubes and be airlifted. The whole setup of PDH I is designed to be functional within an hour of deployment with OT functioning in as little time as 10 min. This initiative has been taken under Aarogya Maitri Cube under the project Bharat Health Initiative for Sahyog, Hita, and Maitri. A 36-cube PDH can manage 100 casualties for 48 h, while 72-cube PDH can cater to 200 survivors for a period of 72 h.[4] This PDH initiative has the potential to be a game changer in terms of disaster preparedness and saving lives. Ease of airlift, rapid deployment, and capacity to function independently are major positives for PDH. Few years ago, India would need help from other countries during the natural disasters such as earthquakes, flood, tsunami, and cyclone, but in the last 5 years, India has emerged to be a global emerging power to support other needy countries during natural disaster period.[5] Financial support and sponsorship Nil. Conflicts of interest There are no conflicts of interest.