AWARD YEAR
2021
CATEGORY
Community
GOALS
Industry, Innovation & Infrastructure
KEYWORDS
death, hospitals, bed-coffin
COUNTRY
Colombia
DESIGNED BY
ABC Displays
WEBSITE
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/may/27/colombia-coronavirus-cardboard-hospital-beds-coffins?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other
Cardboard bed-coffins
Solution for anticipated shortages of hospital beds and funerary caskets
With Covid-19 cases surging across the region, a team of Colombian designers came up with the idea as a grimly pragmatic solution for anticipated overcrowded hospitals.
"We saw what was happening in Ecuador, that people were taking dead family members out onto the streets...what's happening also is that funeral services are collapsing with the pandemic, so we started to develop a bed that could be converted into a coffin."
The beds have metal railings, wheels with brakes and can be inclined up and down. They can support up to 150 kg. (330 lbs.). The biodegradable bed-coffins cost between $92 and $132.
Hopefully their low cost will mean local and provincial governments can outfit rural or under-funded hospitals cheaply.