In just three weeks, a team of 12 from Daimler Buses have converted the Mercedes-Benz Citaro inter-city bus into a specialised vehicle for the purpose of transferring Covid-19 patients, by the German Red Cross Emergency Medical Services.
The 45 seater Citaro, with a standing capacity of 40, is now equipped with four intensive care beds for its new function – allowing German Red Cross staff to transport intensive care patients to other hospitals safely and efficiently. At any one time, there’ll be two intensive care doctors, three paramedics and two ambulance officers present in the Citaro.
As for on-board equipment, the Citaro is as comprehensive as you’d expect an ICU on wheels to be. It’s been fitted with four intensive care ventilators, four monitoring screens, a sonography unit, a blood gas analysis device and four electro-hydraulic wheeled stretchers with a loading system, to name a few.
There are also storage spaces for medicine, other breathing apparatus, and protective clothing for the medical staff. Like conventional ambulances, the Citaro’s windows have also been laminated for privacy. To protect the driver from any risks of exposure to the virus, a wall has been erected to separate them from the patients on board.
“Something that would normally take months, even years, to develop and build was implemented within a few weeks together with Daimler Buses. This is not just a bus but an efficient means of transportation and relief concept,” said a spokesperson for the German Red Cross Emergency Medical Services.
GALLERY
