Aimed at fighting the COVID-19 pandemic and other contagious and airborne diseases, Bangalore based design-and-build firm Vevra has allied with Portugal based healthcare IoT InnoWave Group to launch Vevra Pods, designed as a set of movable capsules, integrated with artificial intelligence (AI), that aim to assist in the infrastructure of local/private/government hospitals across India.
Dr K Sudhakar, Medical Education Minister, Government of Karnataka said, “The healthcare pods developed by Vevra are innovative movable hospitals integrated with AI and can help in containment and prevention of contagious diseases. AI has the potential to transform public healthcare and I urge healthcare start-ups to focus more on developing innovative, low-cost solutions.”
“I am delighted to be a part of such an innovative development in our hospital and medicine industry, these pods look like a pioneering concept of much safer and advanced facilities for not only our patients but also for doctors, during times of high risk,” said Dr C N Manjunath, cardiologist and director, Sri Jayadeva Institute of Cardiovascular Sciences and Research.
Speaking at the launch, Dr Vivek Jawali, chief cardiothoracic and vascular surgeon and as a chairman, head, department of cardiovascular sciences, Fortis Hospitals said, “COVID-19 has encouraged Indians to be more innovative in terms of medical equipment’s and facilities. Vevra Pods is a perfect example for that. These pods are convenient and will help in controlling the contagious diseases.”
“Vevra pods are not just the regular mobile isolation rooms as we have seen before, but a completely functional, fully furnished, AI integrated smart hospital setup. This is an avant-garde, futuristic hospital. These capsules/pods can be annexed to the existing hospitals to create more patient beds when in need or can be deployed to any remote place, areas struck by calamities, or even military bases to act as a complete hospital unit,” commented Mahesh Krishnachari, Director-Founder, Vevra.
As per a release, the fully furnished modular pods come with advanced IoT solutions at the heart of its operation on ViGIE+ platform by InnoWave. This infrastructure consists of antechamber airlock rooms to provide a safe area for healthcare professionals with antibacterial walls and surface.
It also controls the quantity and quality of the air being circulated in and out of the room with a minimum of 12 air changes per hour through HEPA filters, UVC lights, high-end exhaust system with PLC integrated air conditioning system to help in maintaining the temperature and humidity within.
The Vevra pods come in five variants: general pod, ICU pod, doctors stay pod, operation theatre pod, and scanning room pod. Each pod can accommodate 4-9 beds.
The ViGIE+ platform is used for collecting and visualising data from different sensors installed inside and provide real-time alarms if environmental conditions change. The solution can reportedly be quickly and easily deployed in remote areas that are not easily accessible to hospital staff as well outside of the main hospital buildings to avoid any risk of the virus spreading.
“This project is highly linked to our mission as a company – to change people’s lives through innovation. We are specialised in IoT monitoring systems in Europe and the US, and we are eager to embrace this project and expand in other regions, as we are already cooperating with US companies to supply ViGIE,” explained Tiago Gonçalves, CEO, InnoWave Global.