What is a shelter hospital? What is its function?

Shelter Hospital refers to a temporary hospital rebuilt on the basis of convention and exhibition center and gymnasium after the outbreak of COVID-19 epidemic, which is used for centralized treatment of mild patients in COVID-19. Shelter Hospital was originally a field mobile medical system of China People's Liberation Army, which was composed of several movable modules. It consists of medical function unit, ward unit and technical support unit. It is a modular sanitary equipment, which has many functions such as first aid, surgical treatment, clinical examination and so on.

The development of hospice hospitals began in the 1960s. In order to meet the needs of the Vietnam War, the U.S. military took the lead in putting into use a self-contained and movable field hospital on the battlefield, which provided a new application means for field health equipment and was the beginning of the road of field hospital shelter. The system adopts the combination of shelter, expandable tent and inflatable tent, which can form field hospitals of different sizes.

Since 1970s, the form of shelter hospital has changed greatly. Britain, Germany, France and other countries have developed a trailer or semi-trailer combination system carried by the chassis of off-road vehicles.

From 1980s to 1990s, Fangcang Hospital has made great progress. In addition to the United States, Britain, France, Germany and other countries and regions, Italy, Spain and other countries and regions have also developed different types and sizes of shelter hospital systems.