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Ahmedbad-based Anant National University of Design has, in partnership with the Kerala government and the Parliamentarians with Innovators for India (PI India), set up their 10th Covid-19 recovery facility (Anant Covid Recovery Facility) in Thiruvananthapuram.
In a span of five months, AnantU has established 10 recovery facilities with a cumulative 1,620-bed capacity across five States in India, besides designing and manufacturing the first-of-its-kind Anant Covid testing facilities and ‘oxygen-response’ auto-rickshaw-ambulances.
Miniya Chatterji, Director, Centre for Sustainability, Anant National University (AnantU) and CEO, Sustain Labs Paris, said here that it was especially difficult to set up the facility amidst the swiftly growing number of daily new cases in Kerala.
‘Exemplary team effort’
“We were able to overcome challenges due to the exemplary team effort between AnantU, PI India, and the team headed by Shashi Tharoor, MP from Thiruvananthapuram. We are also grateful to Cisco for funding this facility as also to Anil Anthony for his personal efforts,” she added.
Anunaya Chaubey, Provost at Anant National University, said that throughout this pandemic, AnantU has responded fast with answers: visors, recovery spaces, eco-friendly cardboard beds, oxygen ambulances and awareness posters for prevention and treatment.
“We are providing Kerala support by building well-furnished recovery spaces, an initiative that has emerged from the institute’s focus on design thinking for problem-solving. We are grateful to our partners who have lauded our efforts and continue to show faith in our abilities,” he said.
Facility handed over
Besides medical equipment, the facility has affordable and durable laminated corrugated cardboard beds and tables designed and manufactured by AnantU. The recovery facility has been handed over to the District Medical Officer, Thiruvananthapuram, to manage operations.
The 10th Anant Covid Recovery Facility is located in a large conference hall at the Panchkarma Ayurveda Institute in Thiruvananthapuram. The AnantU team has set up a 30-bed recovery facility (phase 1 of a 100-bed project) to treat patients with moderate Covid-19 symptoms.
With a capacity to produce over 500 beds a day, AnantU supplies laminated corrugated cardboard beds, tables and room separators to all these facilities to bring down the cost of the set up. It continues to scale this project by partnering with governments and the private sector.
Affordable, scalable solutions
The recovery facilities, Covid testing and oxygen-response auto-rickshaws are being run by government agencies. Miniya Chatterji said that in-house designers, urban planning innovators, faculty and student teamed up to come up with the affordable solutions for Covid defence.
AnantU had received an educational grant from Godrej Consumer Products for the R&D for Covid testing auto-rickshaws and oxygen-response auto-rickshaws. Other partners include Bharti Airtel, the Murli Deora Foundation, NGO Caring Friends, and the Population Foundation of India.
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