Powering China’s 10-day hospital

Emergency response teams quickly mobilized in China to help establish utility power connections at two hospitals.

Image courtesy of Eaton

Eaton Power was given just 24 hours to mobilize its local engineering team after the government of the People’s Republic of China announced that it would build two emergency field hospitals — one of them in just 10 days — to help fight the novel coronavirus that spread through Wuhan, China. The virus had made its way to 94 other countries as of press time. Wuhan province’s new Huoshenshan and Leishenshan Hospitals added 2,500 hospital beds to the region, allowing medical teams to diagnose, treat and monitor the surge in patients. 

Regional utility provider Wuhan Power Supply Bureau called on Eaton and its local partner Wuhan Chaote Network Technology Co. to help get both hospitals running. Construction on the Huoshenshan hospital began Jan. 23 and wrapped up Feb. 2. The Leishenshan Hospital was announced to be built Jan. 25 and was completed Feb. 8. 

“Our team in China mobilized emergency response teams and worked around the clock to install, deploy and start up critical utility power connections to help get the Leishenshan hospital up and running,” says Justin Carron, global segment manager for health care and life sciences, Eaton. “We also provided medium-voltage components to support intelligent and reliable power distribution.”

At Huoshenshan, Eaton supported construction of the hospital by providing connection to utility power as well as providing uninterruptible power supplies (UPS), batteries and circuit protection. The UPS and batteries support the hospitals’ digital health care resources, such as the equipment used to analyze blood tests, monitor patients and provide emergency backup power. Eaton also delivered the circuit protection supporting critical CT equipment on-site at Huoshenshan. 

Carron says that strategies such as modular construction and prefabrication were crucial to getting the projects up and running under the condensed timeline. 

“The hospital construction started the day before the Chinese Spring Festival — China’s most important holiday,” Carron says. “We had team members from logistics, manufacturing and our distributors willing to respond right away to check for inventory and arrange quick shipment and installation. We leveraged all of our available resources departments, office sites and cities.”