A Finnish team, which made several rounds of visits to Baleswar in the past at the initiative of MP RK Jena to bring an improvement to the healthcare system of the district, arrived here on Monday to implement their ambitious project, The labour Ward.
The innovative project brings together product, service and architectural design, in collaboration with maternal health experts to rethink the birth experience in low resource settings.
These innovations can be applied to both new and existing health facilities to improve the quality of care for both women and care providers.
“The team would be conducting cross-disciplinary exploration and to ignite dialogue between the participants about how to co-create, innovate and discover hidden possibilities which could improve the child birth care experiences and understand the Odisha State maternal and new born health programme and initiatives,” said Jena.
The team members included Product Design lead Nicolas von Flittner, Service and Interaction Design Promila Roychoudhury, Service and Interaction Design Veronica Bluguermann, Design Researcher Shivi Kapil and Architect Helena Sandman.
They would be residing in Baleswar till August 31. During the period, they would visit the DHH and peripheral hospitals, mainly the CHC at Basta and interact with different stakeholders, including doctors, nurses, paramedics and ASHAs etc and conduct mapping of physical space and product environment.
“ Initially we are understanding the current situation and daily activities in the facilities, care activities , equipment and medical preparedness, interiors and furniture, buildings and their functions ,infrastructure , upkeep and maintenance,” said Nicolas.
The team members belong to a reputed organization named M4ID which works with funding and technical assistance by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.