About the Pitch

Submitted By: Footsteps Bangladesh

Name of the Solution: Shushather Odhikar Shobar (S.O.S.) Easy Go Ambulance

The Pitch in One Sentence:

Improving logistical capacity in transportation with primary medical box and storage for necessary medical components to ensure access to basic healthcare services through solar-powered bike ambulances for reliable emergency transportation of critical patients from remote locations like Sylhet’s Derai Upazila to their Upazila Health Complex.

The Initiative in Photograph:

The Project on Social Media: https://www.facebook.com/footsteps.organization/

The Project Website: https://www.footstepsbd.org/

Summary of the Pitch

Sylhet’s Derai Upazilla’s inhabitants will be able to reach the Upazila Health Complex easily using the Easy Go ambulance that also emits zero-carbon.

What specific problem is this initiative trying to solve? 

Sylhet’s hawor areas, especially Derai Upazilla suffers from inaccessibility to proper healthcare services due to poor communication system and scarcity of health resources. Moreover Derai only has 3 ambulance cars available to take sick individuals from their homes to the local Upazila Health Complex. Those ambulance cars are significantly damaged and require a large sum of money for repairing and therefore the Upazila Health Complex has kept them as they are. The damaged ambulance cars, even if they are repaired, are not suitable for use in areas like Derai. This is because Derai being a hawor area, has roads that are very narrow due to being surrounded by water. The compact electric battery-powered Easy Go Ambulance will solve this problem.

Details of the Pitched solution

Problem Analysis: Shushasther Odhikar Shobar (S.O.S) is the health project of Footsteps Bangladesh. The project distributes medical boxes known as S.O.S. Medical Boxes in areas not having access to allopathic medicine and has partnered with Energize the Chain from the USA to expand the vaccine cold chain in Bangladesh.Moreover, Footsteps has intervened with innovative social solutions in 30 districts and impacted 321,253 underprivileged people in the public health, WASH, renewable and disaster mitigation sectors, leading it to receive the Forbes 30 Under 30 Award in Asia under the Social Impact category. To further expand the activities of S.O.S., Footsteps has innovated a low-cost, solar-powered and electric battery-operated ambulance for reliable emergency transportation of critical patients from remote locations; especially in areas like Derai where formal medical facilities are too distant or the existing medical infrastructure is inadequate for the patient’s needs. In essence, the patients are transported to the nearest Upazila Health Complex for appropriate treatment. The physiography of Bangladesh is characterised by two distinctive features: a broad deltaic plain subject to frequent flooding, and a small hilly region crossed by swiftly flowing rivers. Roughly 80 % of the landmass is made up of fertile alluvial lowland called the Bangladesh Plain. About 10,000 square kilometres of the total area of Bangladesh is covered with water, and larger areas like Derai Upazilla are routinely flooded during the monsoon season. Therefore, Footsteps planned for the S.O.S. Easy Go Ambulance concept based on the land geography and communication system. Target Area: The target area where this project is intended to be piloted is in Sylhet’s Derai Upazilla due to the geographical disadvantage its residents face there as a result of it being a hawor area. Ambulance Design: The solar-powered and electric-battery ambulance is a full-throttle vehicle. It is made with a light stainless steel body and alternate structural engineering from the traditional easy-bike or auto. It is equipped for conveying the patient and 3 attendees as well. The Easy Go ambulance will be stationed at the Upazila Health Complex where it can obtain the solar energy necessary to power its battery. The low-cost ambulance proves to be an efficient means of transport for saving critical patients in rural Bangladesh, where other means of transport are not readily available and cannot be afforded by the patients of Derai’s marginalized community. The research team will guide the manufacturing partner to carry out all the mechanical developments of the ambulance. The chassis frame will be assembled using angled steel and precise welding to ensure that the chassis can hold the entire weight of the box breaking. Steel sheets and angled steel were used to build up the seats for the passengers and the box’s frame, respectively, by following the accurate measurements of the box. Ambulance Essentials: The ambulance is equipped with basic emergency tools which include an oxygen cylinder, insulation pad, pulse oximeter, stretcher, and a SOS Medical Box with primary medical tools and medications to give immediate attention to the patients.

Impact and Beneficiaries of the Pitched Solution

The impact number for each Easy- Go Ambulance is 720 patients annually. The direct beneficiaries for this project will be the medical patients of the hawor area known as Derai Upazila. Therefore, the total number of beneficiaries from the 3 Easy Go Ambulances will be 2160 patients annually.

What city, village and upazilas are this solution impacting?

 Derai Upazila, Sylhet District, Bangladesh

Which division will this solution be impacting?

•  Sylhet

What kind of support do you need to take your idea forward?

CSR Funds

how much funds do you need to get started?

 BDT 10,00,000 and above

About Footsteps Bangladesh

Footsteps is a development based social enterprise with a primary focus to address social challenges and improve current scenarios of Health, Environment and Education in Bangladesh.

In 2013, Shah Rafayat Chowdhury approached 5 of his friends in school to discuss starting an organization that works towards empowering marginalized communities across Bangladesh. At the age of 17, Shah along with his friends started Footsteps with a mission to design social ventures which would ultimately solve many of the world’s most challenging social issues. An environmentalist and economist by profession, Shah believed that every person has the potential to solve their own social issues given the right set of skills and resources. Since 2013, Footsteps has acted as a catalyst for hundreds of marginalized communities in helping them overcome their social challenges by building their capacity and potential.