i've been discussing with some friends on another site the use of Helicopters set up as mobile field hospitals. the site is a forum for a scifi tabletop game, and the debate is over whether Helicopters should be allowed to be built with the Mobile Field Hospital/MASH gear. a lot of those in the debate argue that such facilities would be impossible, but some of us have found indications at least a few such vehicles exist. sadly details about them seem to be in short supply for us laymen.
specifically, the Mi-26MS, which we've found mention of and which apparently includes a full surgery section along with pre-op and a small lab, in addition to the normal medic stuff.
and i've found mention of the CH-54 Tarhe being used in Vietnam with a pod housing a mobile field hospital. but i can't find more details on that beyond a mention. ideally i'd like to find out if this actually existed, and how they did it. (for example, did the pod get dropped off before it was used as a field hospital? did they do surgical stuff in flight?)
since the game's field hospital gear is specifically surgical/MASH type medical gear (the ground vehicle version is supposed to provide at least one surgical section in the vehicle.. ones in the game run the gamut of just big vehicles to smaller ones with slide out sections for space.) the medical tech is pretty much supposed to be similar to today (no super-medical-tech here), which is why we've been looking for relatively modern examples
specifically, the Mi-26MS, which we've found mention of and which apparently includes a full surgery section along with pre-op and a small lab, in addition to the normal medic stuff.
and i've found mention of the CH-54 Tarhe being used in Vietnam with a pod housing a mobile field hospital. but i can't find more details on that beyond a mention. ideally i'd like to find out if this actually existed, and how they did it. (for example, did the pod get dropped off before it was used as a field hospital? did they do surgical stuff in flight?)
since the game's field hospital gear is specifically surgical/MASH type medical gear (the ground vehicle version is supposed to provide at least one surgical section in the vehicle.. ones in the game run the gamut of just big vehicles to smaller ones with slide out sections for space.) the medical tech is pretty much supposed to be similar to today (no super-medical-tech here), which is why we've been looking for relatively modern examples