Rheinmetall transfers mobile field hospital to Ukraine

Germany’s Rheinmetall has handed over a mobile field hospital to Ukraine.

The relevant statement was made on the company’s website, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

In September 2022, the German Federal Ministry of Defence signed a contract with Rheinmetall Group’s subsidiary, Rheinmetall Mobile Systeme GmbH, or RMS, for the hospital and related training support. The order is worth around EUR 9 million.

This field hospital encompasses 32 beds, including eight intensive care beds, an operating room with associated sterilization facilities, diagnostic imaging technology (x-ray and computer tomography), a laboratory, a pharmacy, and administrative and personnel tracts.

In two additional deliveries scheduled for late 2023 and early 2024, RMS will also be supplying Ukraine with two high-mobility medical support facilities.

Besides the field hospital itself, Rheinmetall has also furnished Ukraine with the necessary transport assets. A total of 10 truck/trailer combinations carried the 20 containers to their destination.

The hospital is a complete autarkic medical support unit. It not only includes medical modules in expandable containers and tents, but also an independent power generation capability and facilities for producing medical gases. The hospital also features its own water supply, including treatment and decontamination as well as billets with sanitation modules for patients and personnel. It can therefore be safely transported by land, sea or air, and is ready to operate upon arrival. Designed for maximum operational mobility, all of the systems and equipment in the hospital can be reused repeatedly.

Ten Ukrainian soldiers took part in a 14-day training course to learn how to assemble and disassemble and operate the hospital. The formal handover to Ukraine then took place at a specified location.

“We kept our word and have supplied the Ukrainian military with a major first-class field hospital at extremely short notice. The men and women of our company and those of our partners demonstrated outstanding commitment in carrying out this project. We never forgot for a single day how important a speedy delivery was. This system will hopefully save many lives in Ukraine. We are proud to be contributing our special capabilities to Rheinmetall’s support for Ukraine,” RMS Managing Director Hauke Bindzus noted.

The company also shared a video of how the mobile field hospital looks like.

A reminder that the Federal Government of Germany instructed Rheinmetall to deliver 40 more Marder infantry fighting vehicles to Ukraine.

Photo: DPA