This was a major first in Europe in 2020. Based on a concept from SAMU 31 and Cegelec Défense, Toulouse University Hospital developed a mobile hospital to help care for patients affected by Covid19. In just 20 minutes, a shelter from a truck can transform into a fully energy-independent mobile hospital. Once deployed, this 12-metre-long, 66 sq. metre structure can accommodate 18 patients, including 8 in critical condition, in 5 different compartments. The prototype cost €2.3 million, financed in part through European funding and a French-Spanish partnership. 

“For 18 months, Cegelec engineers, manual workers and technicians worked alongside emergency unit doctors and nurses,” says Frédéric Tribet, Business Unit Manager at Cegelec Défense. “We met once a fortnight to think collectively about the best ways forward technically.” 

Multipurpose units 

In 2022, Cegelec Défense continued to bolster its expertise in tackling medical emergencies. The French hospital purchasing cooperative UniHA signed a framework agreement with Cegelec Défense Mobile Technical Units to supply mobile medical units (MMU) to hospitals and emergency medical services. The agreement covers the provision of up to 20 MMUs between 2022 and 2026.  

The customisable 68 sq. metre MMUs have heating and cooling systems, are transportable by air and can be deployed by four operators in just one hour. These multipurpose units can provide care in disaster areas, support vaccination campaigns, or expand the capacity of an existing hospital, as occurred during the Covid-19 crisis.   

 
In response to demand from disaster-response medical professionals for new solutions to meet the growing nuclear, radiological and chemical threat, Cegelec Défense also developed a mobile decontamination unit for SAMU 31.  The first prototype, deployable in less than one hour, was created in close partnership between teams from Cegelec Défense and healthcare workers (doctors, nurses and paramedics) and delivered in March 2021. It allows the treatment of 150 victims an hour and the deployment of eight decontamination corridors in the event of an industrial accident or terrorist incident. 

A second mobile decontamination unit was completed in 2022: a multipurpose solution that includes a training room, so crucial is the need to train first responders to extreme healthcare emergencies, and five decontamination corridors. 

Watch the interview where Frédéric Tribet talks about these innovative solutions.