The Department of Design in Indian Institute of Technology-Guwahati (IIT-G) has completed a project in designing bamboo furniture to meet the requirements of the primary health centres in rural Assam during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The bamboo range, members of the design faculty said, offered scope for improving basic infrastructure facilities in healthcare service during epidemics and pandemics such as COVID-19.
“The current pandemic crisis has brought to the fore the need for seeking self-reliance of sustainable solutions that are contextually appropriate for meeting the needs of the community,” said the department’s Ravi Mokashi Punekar.
The project, he hoped, would lead to utilising bamboo effectively for community facilities. Such utilisation had been limited despite bamboo craft being an important economic driver in the Northeast.
IIT-G has offered to share the designs with the Gauhati Medical College and Hospital. It said the “participatory design approach” involved could manufacture about 200 bamboo hospital beds a day.
“Given the current pandemic situation, if the situation arises, the bamboo furniture range will help in meeting the high demand required for those admitted for treatment,” Professor Punekar said.
Two local entrepreneurs have agreed to undertake the manufacture of a simper version of the hospital bed, an IIT-G spokesperson said. Other bamboo hospital furniture items designed include the wheelchair.