Colombian businessman Rodolfo Gomez has been witnessing deaths due to coronavirus in his neighboring nation, Ecuador, which has since led him to make a bed that can be converted into a coffin. The idea for the bed-coffin combo had struck Rodolfo when he saw dozens of dead bodies lying on the street of Ecuador's largest city Guayaquil after which he set to work in the hopes of preventing such a situation in other countries.

Coronavirus | Colombian businessman creates bed that can be converted as a coffinCoronavirus | Colombian businessman creates bed that can be converted as a coffinCoronavirus | Colombian businessman creates bed that can be converted as a coffin

Concerned that Colombia's health system could take a hit as the days pass by, the 44-year-old Rodolfo Gomez, has designed cardboard bed-coffins under his company, ABC Displays, which usually is into the production of marketing material. He stated, "We saw what was happening in Ecuador, that people were taking dead family members out onto the streets...what's happening also is that funeral services are collapsing with the pandemic. So we started to develop a bed that could be converted into a coffin."

Coronavirus | Colombian businessman creates bed that can be converted as a coffinCoronavirus | Colombian businessman creates bed that can be converted as a coffin

The beds have been designed with metal railings in place along with wheels and brakes, which can be inclined in upward and downward directions and can support up to 150 kg. Mr. Gomez has stated the biodegradable bed-coffins are priced at $92 and $132 and is hopeful local and provincial governments can have them put to use at rural and under-funded hospitals. He added that a possible contamination after a patient dies can as well be reduced once the beds are converted into coffins.

Coronavirus | Colombian businessman creates bed that can be converted as a coffinCoronavirus | Colombian businessman creates bed that can be converted as a coffin

"Once the bodies are prepared it is converted to a coffin and covered," Gomez said from his Bogota factory adding it can produce as many as 3,000 beds every month. Mr. Gomez also stated that the first bed-coffins are going to be donated to a hospital in the Amazonian Colombian city, Leticia, which has reported a spike in the number of coronavirus cases. He's revealed that he's already held discussions with buyers from countries Chile, Mexico, Peru, and the United States, who have shown interest in the bed-coffins.

Coronavirus | Colombian businessman creates bed that can be converted as a coffinCoronavirus | Colombian businessman creates bed that can be converted as a coffin