Premium International combats COVID-19 by donating Asia’s first fully-equipped mobile ICU

In a ribbon-cutting ceremony, the mobile ICU unit was declared open by Minister of Health Keheliya Rambukwella 

Premium International, the leader in comprehensive healthcare technology solutions, donated a three-bed, fully-equipped, modern transportable mobile ‘plug-and-play’ Intensive Care Unit (ICU), to the Teaching Hospital Peradeniya, aiding the national healthcare effort in combatting the COVID-19 pandemic. 

The innovative solution was handed over to the Teaching Hospital Peradeniya on Tuesday, 14 September, and was commissioned at the hospital immediately, to assist in the treatment of those afflicted by COVID-19. In a ribbon-cutting ceremony, the unit was declared open by Minister of Health Keheliya Rambukwella. 

Making the most of their critical care expertise, the Premium team set out to develop a comprehensive solution to tackle the insufficient existing ICU capacity across the island, while also ensuring greater access to modern high-tech equipment – crucial towards saving the lives of critically-ill COVID-19 patients. The ‘plug-and-play’ nature of the ICU unit allows for easy installation, and near-immediate use, and stands to significantly reduce the burden on both hospital-staff and patients, ensuring greater critical-care capacity while reducing waiting times. 

Commenting on the donation, Premium International Project Director Sujeewa Sumanasena stated, “We are very proud to be strengthening the national effort to treat COVID-19 patients with our cutting-edge modern mobile ICU. This is the first of such a unit to be used in the Asian region, and to showcase our commitment to easing the current healthcare crisis, we donated the first unit to the Ministry of Health for use at the Teaching Hospital, Peradeniya. We hope that the significant benefits of using such a mobile unit, including the quick installation time, and the positive impact on treatment due to the high-tech nature of the unit, will be easily visible. 

“This in turn will create awareness on the significant potential the unit holds for easing the difficulties faced globally by those nations experiencing acute shortages of critical care patient facilities. This fully equipped mobile ICU was conceptualised and developed locally and is a testament to the high scientific and technical potential that exists locally – without which this truly Sri Lankan product would not exist.”

Premium International, an integrated technology solutions provider serving critical needs in the health and healthcare related industrial engineering requirements, was incorporated to go beyond traditional product-market concepts and to serve the wider needs of the industry. Premium works with a number of local and global innovative business partners to tackle a wide variety of health and socio-economic problems faced by the country. In this instance, they collaborated with Pership for the fabrication works of the container. 

Throughout its history, Premium International has been at the forefront of developing and improving healthcare technology infrastructure, with a special focus on critical care patient management. More than 70% of the ICU ventilators currently in use across the island were supplied and are maintained by the company. Premium aims to continue to work on securing the health and wellbeing of all citizens, by developing cutting-edge innovative solutions that solve critical needs that arise in the future.