Healthcare Design - September 2014 - 11

MONITOR
Edited by Anne DiNardo

Building change
If all goes well, five years from now, Myanmar
will serve as an example of how a network of
high-tech, locally driven clinics can improve
medical care to underserved populations
throughout the world.
The effort is being driven by Care For
Peace, a Novato, Calif.-based nonprofit,
and it's starting with a country of more than
50 million people in southeast Asia.
Decades of military rule and civil unrest
left the world's 25th most populous country
with little healthcare infrastructure, especially
in rural Myanmar. What did exist consisted
mainly of traditional and herbal medicine that
was gradually augmented by humanitarian
and relief efforts by international organizations, says Jeff Hardy, president and founder
of Care For Peace.
While some hospitals are being built today
in Myanmar's bigger cities, such as Yangon
and Mandalay, the majority of Myanmar is still
underserved, particularly its vast rural areas.
"You're really looking at an entire country that
has very little reliable infrastructure," Hardy
says.
Care For Peace (www.careforpeace.org) wants
to improve those conditions, so it's established a
cooperative agreement with the Ministry of Health
of Myanmar to plan, design, and build a prototype
technology-based mini medical center that can be
replicated in an estimated 250 townships and villages.
Ultimately, the government of Myanmar will take over
operation of the facilities.

Care For Peace's work in Myanmar begins with a replacement
rural health clinic (shown above) that features self-sustainable
equipment, such as solar panels, a backup generator, telecom
antenna, water tower, septic tank, and waste disposal system. It
will provide the same services as the original building (shown at
left) but will also include new features that will allow it to evolve
into a mini medical center.

$80,000. The prototype will be equipped with health
and medical services, systems, and technologies to
provide 90 percent of all the health and medical needs
for the community so that patients won't have to walk
to a district hospital over difficult paths and roads-
especially during monsoon season when travel is
problematic, Hardy says.
In addition to these centers, the organization is
funding a $35,000 replacement facility for a rural
health clinic that was "literally falling down," Hardy
says. It's slated to open in February
2015 and will initially provide the
same services as before but with
new additions, including a dental
chair, hospital bed, operating/
birthing room, and basic laboratory equipment. Technology will include a computer
with a large, wall-mounted monitor, two tablets, and
two mobile phones. As the clinic builds its health
and medical staff capacity, it can evolve into a mini
medical center with a larger footprint and expanded
services and technologies.-Anne DiNardo

Each 40-by-30-foot mini medical center will be built
with room to expand and be as self-sufficient as possible, Hardy says, with solar panels, a rooftop water
tank, a septic tank, and outdoor toilets. Portable and
mobile computing devices will include wall-mounted
screens in every room, Wi-Fi connectivity, webcams,
and telemedical and telecommunication systems to
support clinical decisions, medical care, staff training,
and management operations.
The first of 13 new mini medical centers is slated
to open in Taung Yin Village in July 2015 at a cost of
10

HCDmagazine.com 09.14

MORE ONLINE

For an expanded version of this story, go to
HCDmagazine.com/myanmar.

MIN SWE, MZT CO. LTD., YANGON, MYANMAR (RENDERING)

The first of 13 new mini medical centers
in Myanmar is slated to open in Taung Yin
Village in July 2015 at a cost of $80,000.

http://www.careforpeace.org http://www.HCDmagazine.com/myanmar http://www.HCDmagazine.com

Healthcare Design - September 2014

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