Procuring a mobile field hospital container for military, humanitarian or remote site operations requires a fundamentally different approach to standard medical equipment procurement. The unit must function as a complete, self-contained medical facility — not just a building. This guide covers the key specification decisions that procurement teams, medical planners and logistics officers need to make before issuing a tender or purchase order.
Step 1: Define Your Medical Capability Requirement
The single most important specification decision is defining what clinical capability the unit must deliver. This determines everything else — size, HVAC, electrical load, medical gas supply and staffing implications.
Primary Care and Triage Units
- 5 to 20 treatment stations
- Wound dressing, triage assessment, basic diagnostics
- Vaccination and maternal care configurations
- Deployable in under 2 hours
- Typical footprint: one or two 20ft containers
Surgical and Trauma Units
- Full sterile operating theatre environment
- Anaesthesia gas supply, surgical lighting, instrument sterilisation
- Negative pressure isolation for infection control
- Requires medical-grade HVAC with positive and negative pressure switching
- Typical footprint: two to four 20ft containers linked
ICU and Inpatient Ward Units
- 10 to 50 beds per module
- Medical gas outlets at every bed position
- Patient monitoring system integration
- Expandable by linking additional modules
Full Field Hospital Complex
- Combined triage, surgical, ICU, pharmacy and laboratory capability
- 50 to 300+ bed capacity across multiple linked modules
- Dedicated power generation, water supply and waste management
- WHO Emergency Medical Team (EMT) Type 2 or Type 3 compliant configurations available
Step 2: Specify the Environmental Conditions
A field hospital container that performs perfectly in a temperate European climate may fail in a desert or Arctic environment. Specify the full range of ambient conditions the unit must operate in.
HVAC Requirements by Climate
- Tropical and desert — cooling capacity to maintain +18°C to +22°C interior at +55°C ambient
- Temperate — heating and cooling across -20°C to +40°C ambient range
- Arctic — heating to maintain interior temperature at -40°C ambient, with anti-freeze systems for water supply
Medical-grade HVAC must also maintain positive pressure in sterile areas and negative pressure in isolation rooms — simultaneously if the unit includes both functions.
Step 3: Define Power Supply Requirements
Field hospital containers are high electrical load environments. Surgical lighting, HVAC, medical equipment, sterilisation and monitoring systems combine to create significant power demands.
- Specify generator capacity with minimum 25% headroom above calculated load
- Require automatic transfer switch — power interruption during surgery is unacceptable
- Include UPS (Uninterruptible Power Supply) for critical monitoring and life support equipment
- Confirm grid compatibility if connection to local power is possible
- Consider solar hybrid for extended operations in remote locations
Step 4: Medical Gas Supply
- Oxygen — specify whether cylinder supply, concentrator or bulk liquid oxygen is required
- Medical air — compressed air to medical grade (ISO 7396-1)
- Nitrous oxide and anaesthetic agents — for surgical units only
- Vacuum/suction — at every treatment and bed position in surgical and ICU units
For extended operations in remote locations, containerised oxygen generator systems eliminate dependence on cylinder resupply — a critical logistics advantage.
Step 5: Transport and Deployment Logistics
Specify how the unit will be transported to the deployment location and how quickly it must be operational on arrival.
- Road transport — confirm width, height and weight compliance with route restrictions
- Air transport — C-130 or C-17 compatible configurations for military airlift
- Sea transport — ISO 1496 certified for standard container shipping
- Helicopter lift — weight and lift point specifications for sling load operations
- Deployment time — specify maximum time from arrival on site to first patient
Tamga Modules Mobile Field Hospital Container Solutions
Tamga Modules designs and manufactures mobile field hospital containers for military, humanitarian and remote site medical operations. Our units are configured to WHO EMT standards and are deployable within 24 to 72 hours of site arrival.
We also supply containerised oxygen generator systems and pharmaceutical cold storage containers for integrated field hospital logistics.