Mastercard and AIF launches first mobile hospital in Jalna, India

The new facility includes triage and treatment centres.

Financial services firm, Mastercard, and the charity organisation, American India Foundation (AIF), have launched the first 100-bed mobile hospital in Civil Hospital in Jalna district in Maharashtra, according to a press release.

The newly upgraded facility in the Jalna district includes triage and treatment centres, of which 92 general ward beds are in isolation units and 8 are in the intensive care unit. The addition of 100 new beds ramps up the hospital’s current 350-bed capacity by almost 30%.

With the facility’s portability, after the urgent need for beds subsides, each unit can easily be deconstructed or repurposed as extra space for various community needs.

Three sites will be launched in quick succession next month in Amravati, Maharashtra; Baramati, Maharashtra; and Bilaspur, Chhattisgarh.

Mastercard made an $8.9m grant to the AIF to expand medical infrastructure across India by 2,000 hospital beds by September 2021. To date, it has committed US$10m aiming to address critical COVID-related challenges in India.