Mini Integrated Hospital (MIH) is a project created by Claudio Paccanaro, who currently holds its copyright. The entrepreneur who brought medical tourism to Italy has worked in hospital management and maintenance for nearly his entire career. Not only has he worked on land hospitals, but he also worked with the navy in the building of operation rooms and patented a civil hospital ship, in 2018, he created the project of a modular hospital.

It took 3 years of extensive work to make it possible: there are many factors “behind the scenes” of this project, nonetheless, it has the potential to become a true masterpiece of Italian manufacture.

To begin with, this hospital is designed to be modular. Each of these modules is assembled in container-sized rooms with its metallic skeleton, walls, and wiring. This operation is entirely done in a specialized factory in Padua, near Venice. The module is then embarked and sent to the location in which it is needed. Shortly after its arrival, the module is positioned, and the assembly is completed. This first step requires a highly trained team, which will be provided by the manufacturer, in this case, Mr. Paccanaro. The hosting space only needs to provide access to water and electricity, and within a week, the module will be functional. This project can become a lifesaver in countries or locations in which health care needs help, for example, third-world countries or areas that are difficult to reach in case of emergencies. This is why the first modules to be created are Emergency Rooms.

The creation of emergency rooms needed three years of work, which began in 2015. It required engineers and doctors. Another reason it was decided to start with an ER, aside from its immediate use, is that other rooms in a hospital (for example, operating rooms) require spaces like the ones dedicated to hospitalization. This would make it a much bigger and longer project, as it would be for a complete hospital. However, despite being a simpler idea, the ER was no easy task. It required 8 months just to have an Italian-level pharmacy. In fact, such a pharmacy must be completely stocked and continuously checked per the drugs’ expiry date. Other complications involve the experts needed for the building and the maintenance, the doctors who are willing to go into the place as much as to train new local personnel, and so on. These are only a few of the challenges connected to the building of the emergency room.

Italian heritage comes with many attributes, among which being explorers and pushing boundaries a step forward. Paccanaro had the idea of using different projects of his and his collaborators, with the ambition of building something lasting that could bring great prestige to the country. We have already seen the hospital ship in a previous number of We the Italians, where we explored how it works and what it can do. The mini emergency room could be transported with the ship, and while it is being built, the ship could take over emergency care (it has space for helicopters and ambulances), giving immediate assistance. Once the mini-hospital is completed, the ship can move toward other places in need.  This is what Mr. Paccanaro calls “lay dinosaur eggs”, the beginning of hospitals throughout entire continents.

The first goal would be to plant these seeds in all the areas that are difficult to reach and often hit by calamities like earthquakes. Indeed, these structures can easily be readapted as anti-seismic. The first goal is to begin the mission in the Mediterranean Sea. Moving forward, Mr. Paccanaro is working to be part of the Piano Mattei, an investment plan for Africa granted by the current Italian government. The modular emergency room is already predisposed to become a modular hospital, exporting Italian excellence in the medical field and training the locals, granting prestige and return of investment to the country.