Super Local creates affordable equipment for hospitals in Malawi
Dutch design studio Super Local has worked with craftsmen in Malawi to develop a line of affordable hospital products that can be made locally.
Super Local's Care Collection includes hospital beds, theatre stools, surgical tables and trolleys, room dividers, drip stands, over-bed tables and laundry trolleys. Each of the pieces were presented at an exhibition during this year's Dutch Design Week.
Currently, businesses and institutions such as hospitals in landlocked Malawi have to import the equipment they need. Because the imports are so costly, hospitals often have to work with dilapidated equipment or do without entirely.
In response to this, Super Local saw an opportunity to develop a line of hospital products that could be made locally using readily available materials and techniques.
"It costs the same amount to ship a container from China to South Africa, as it does to transport it from South Africa to Malawi," Super Local co-founder Pim van Baarsen told Dezeen. "So it is hugely expensive to import."
"They currently import their products from China, but the quality is really poor. As soon as something breaks, there are no spare parts to fix it with. There is a huge junkyard full of products that no longer work."
The studio held design consultations with staff across five different local hospitals in order to get their input on what products were needed and how they should work.
"The staff were really engaged and really enthusias...
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