Mission ICU adds 100 additional ICU Beds in rural India, Achieves 200 ICU Beds Milestone
Mar 18, 2023
Bangalore (Karnataka) [India], March 18 (ANI/PNN): Mission ICU recently launched a state-of-the-art 10-bed ICU facility in the district hospital Champai, Mizoram. This has been part of Mission ICUs' initiative to enhance the critical care infrastructure across the country, especially in the remote areas of North East. The new critical care facility installed at Champai, Mizoram is set to increase the critical care capacity by 200 per cent. Along with Champhai, Mission ICU has also installed 10-ICU beds in District Hospital Lunglei with the same impact of 200 per cent increase in critical care capacity from 5 to 15 ICU beds. The new set of ICU facilities is supported by Crypto Relief and Kantar India Foundation along with operational support from USAID's SAMRIDH Health initiative.
The chief guest at the inauguration, Dr ZR Thiamsanga, Honourable MLA and Vice Chairman, Health and Family Welfare Board, Mizoram Government, observed and remarked very pleasantly that "Mission ICU as a project would remain forever in the hearts and minds of the people of Champhai because they could have also crossed several districts and locations which they could have otherwise opted but came very far to the rural-remotest parts of India, which also shares the international border with Myanmar. And chose the district hospital in Champhai to uplift the capacity for hospitals to handle the patient loads."
Mission ICU is also working in other states of the northeast to bridge this gap with critical care support through their initiative. Earlier they installed a new facility in District Hospital Tamenglong, Manipur. This new completion also marks the completion of a new milestone of installing 200 ICU beds in 20 locations across the country covering 9 states. The beneficiary hospitals in other states include District Hospital Noklak- Nagaland, Gyati Takka General Hospital-Arunachal Pradesh, District Hospital Kamjong & District Hospital Chandel- Manipur, & Dhalai District Hospital-Tripura.
"We are delighted to announce that Mission ICU launched a state-of-the-art 10-bed ICU facility in the district hospital of Champai, Mizoram. With this we have completed the installation of 200 ICU beds in 20 locations across the country," said Dr Ashwin Naik, Co-founder of Mission ICU. "Our mission has always been to provide critical care services to patients across the country, especially in remote areas, and this milestone brings us one step closer to achieving our goal. We will continue to work with hospitals and healthcare providers to ensure that more patients have access to critical care services. Our goal is to make critical care accessible and affordable to all patients in the country," he added further.
Mission ICU was founded at the peak of the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, to bridge the urban and rural gap of critical care infrastructure by identifying under-resourced hospitals in rural India and installing a set of 10 new ICU beds facility to address healthcare emergencies during and beyond the pandemic.
"We are grateful to Mission ICU for donating the State-of-the-Art ICU equipment for our District Hospital at Champhai. These facilities/equipment will help serious patients who need ICU care, to get easier and faster access to quality critical care, in this hospital. This will also help reduce the rate of patients that are currently being referred to bigger centers, especially for rural poor patients. We are very grateful to Crypto Relief and Kantar India foundation for their support through Mission ICU and we hope that we will receive their continued support" said District Surgeon, Dr. Zatlaunga, Champhai District Hospital.
Expanding on the vision, Maanoj Shah, the co-founder of Mission ICU said,
I am incredibly proud to see the impact Mission ICU has been able to create especially in the remotest part of rural India which most institutions find it difficult to reach. With our first installation at Tamenglong in Manipur we noticed that North East is the most neglected part of India so we thought it will be great to put a special emphasis here and till date we have done 90 ICU Beds in 9 remote locations including Manipur, Mizoram, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland and Tripura. We thank our valuable partners Arogya World, Crypto Relief, Kantar India Foundation, Wadhwani Foundation, USAID's SAMRIDH and many others who believed in our mission.
Dr Edmond Fernandes, CEO, CHD Group & Co-Founder, Mission ICU added,
"200 beds is a milestone in the journey of social impact. What started off as an idea matured into a cemented sustainable development in the true sense of the term. This needs bold vision with inclusion of diverse individuals in a journey best taken together. I feel blessed and humbled to be a part of this mission."
The facility was inaugurated in the presence of the Chief Guest, Dr ZR Thiamsanga MLA, Vice Chairman, Health & Family Welfare Board, Government of Mizoram. The guests of honour were Mission ICU Co-founder, Maanoj Shah, Dr Edmond Fernandes, (Founder & CEO, CHD Group, Co-Founder, Mission ICU), Delegates from Mission ICU supporters & donor partners, Anwisha Thakur, (Consultant-CSR, Kantar India Foundation), Sidharth Dua (Senior Manager, SAMRIDH, IPE Global). The event was moderated by Darshan Mahajan (Mission ICU core team).
In presence of James Lalrinchhana, Deputy Commissioner, Champhai, Dr Zatluanga, DMS, District Hospital Champhai, Dr C Ramdinmawii, CMO, Champhai and representatives from NGO from Champhai and medical professionals from District Hospital.
Two additional activities were also key highlights of this inauguration. Maanoj Shah recorded a Mission ICU Talk show- a knowledge platform to emphasize on healthcare conversations. He spoke with medical professionals from the district hospital and discussed scaling impact in rural areas and needful intervention for healthcare. Dr Edmond Fernandes took a training session with young medical professionals on Advanced Health System Strengthening & Operational Readiness in Humanitarian Emergencies.
Mission ICU has been lauded for their efforts to improve critical care infrastructure in the country. Apart from that, Mission ICU has undertaken a series of initiatives to encourage conversations on healthcare, with a 'Mission ICU Talk Show' on YouTube and social media channels inviting healthcare champions, CSR Heads, and guests from the social impact sector. To connect youth with rural healthcare, Mission ICU launched 'Mission ICU Student Fellowship', a 6-week cohort selecting 16 students among 200+ applications received across India in the first phase. Mission ICU had also initiated 'ICU Mapping Project' across 4 states reaching across 59 districts to understand the critical care infrastructure needs in rural hospitals.
For more information about Mission ICU and its initiatives, please visit:
Mission ICU is a collaborative initiative powered by CHD group with a sole motto to augment the healthcare infrastructure by building critical care facilities in rural areas. A brainchild of Dr. Ashwin Naik, Maanoj Shah and Dr Edmond Fernandes, Mission ICU is on a mission to increase preparedness for any healthcare crises and build a sustainable solution to strengthen preparedness for any further health emergencies.
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