Vancouver-based UniDoc Health is releasing a shippable doctor’s office, lab, or even tiny mobile hospital. It’s called the H3 Health Cube, and the company says its AI-powered health clinics will deliver medical care closer to those in rural areas, bringing high-tech diagnostic tools and real-time automated triage assessments to wherever there’s a need.
“Limited access to comprehensive medical care affects people globally, particularly remote areas with limited transportation and infrastructure,” Antonio Baldassarre, CEO of UniDoc, said in a statement. “The H3 Health Cube can help to fill the gap for care and reduce the burden placed on hospitals and local clinics by offering robust medical care access independently of existing infrastructure.”
The Health Cube is a self-contained virtual clinic about a third the size of a shipping container. According to UniDoc Health, it’ll provide remote patients the ability to have comprehensive medical appointments even if doctors aren’t available locally, thanks to the array of sensors, communications technology, and medical equipment built into the cube.
Each Health Cube comes equipped with sanitation, lighting, a security system, a chair and bed, cabinets, and wheelchair ramp. Each has a computer, webcam, and power, along with monitors and keyboards. In terms of medical equipment, the standard on-board tools include:
- USB Electronic Stethoscope
- Versa Scope
- All-in-One Vital Signs Monitor with: SpO2, BP, Pulse rate, Temperature
- Electronic Scale
- Touch-ECG System – wireless, fully diagnostic 12 lead ECG acquisition unit
- Ultrasound
- TD-4216 Blood and Urine – Rapid Testing & Monitoring
In addition, however, UniDoc says the Health Cube integrates with over 400 medical devices that can optionally be added, including equipment like a vital signs monitor, lab testing gear, colonoscopy instruments, even a CT scanner.
The first five Health Cubes have been shipped to customers like the Italian aid group Aiutiamoli a Vivere Foundation, which will deploy the mobile clinics in the Ukraine as well as the Gaza Strip, both places where traditional medical care has been severely constrained due to conflict. Another Health Cube is being shipped to Aliano, a remote village in Italy, where the nearest hospitals are distant and difficult to reach. And yet another Health Cube will be deployed by the Hope Ukraine Foundation at Okhmatdyt, Ukraine’s largest children’s hospital, which was damaged by a missile strike in July.
“This will represent a step forward to improve territorial healthcare assistance for Aliano and its surrounding areas,” Aliano mayor Luigi De Lorenzo said in a statement, adding that the distance to regional hospitals is a key challenge for his community.
Italy is not alone in that challenge.
Approximately 30 million Americans live in “medical deserts” at least a 60-minute drive from local hospitals. Some of them are rural, but some are urban areas in Chicago and LA. And the U.S. government predicts a shortage of as many as 20,000 primary care medical professionals in rural areas by 2025.
In that scenario, could a shippable “Health Cube” be the future of medical care?
Possibly, especially as medical AI improves. Even if it doesn’t, however, this model does allow specialists or even GPs to live where they wish, but still impact the health of people in remote areas, war zones, or regions hit by natural disasters.
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