Corona effect: Colombian company creates bed that can transform into a coffin

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Corona effect: Colombian company creates bed that can transform into a coffin

IANS

BOGOTÁ

Last Updated : 24 May 2020 02:18:36 AM IST

Colombian company creates bed that can transform into a coffin

A Colombian advertising company is pitching a solution for shortages of hospital beds and coffins during the coronavirus pandemic: combine them.

ABC Displays has created a cardboard bed with metal railings that designers say can double as a casket if a patient dies.

Company manager Rodolfo Gomez said he was inspired to find a way to help after watching events unfold recently in nearby Ecuador.

Families in the coastal city of Guayaquil waited with dead loved ones in their homes for days last month as coronavirus cases surged. Many could not find or were unable to afford a wood coffin, using donated cardboard ones instead.

“Poor families don’t have a way of paying for a coffin,” Gomez said.

Gomez said he plans to donate 10 of his new beds to Colombia’s Amazonas department, where resources are in short supply. So far there is no indication whether the beds will be put to use or not. No orders have ben placed so far,

The beds can hold a weight of 150 kilograms and will cost about $85 each, Gomez said. He said he worked with a private clinic on the design, which he hopes will be put to use in emergency clinics.

At least one doctor was skeptical of how sturdy a cardboard bed might be. He also warned that any corpses should first be placed in a sealed bag before being put in a cardboard coffin to avoid potentially further spreading the deadly virus.