Aastrika Midwifery Centre

A Nilekani Philanthropies initiative, Bangalore, India

Aastrika Midwifery Centre at Vasavi Hospital creates a collaborative environment that offers a mother-centric midwifery model (natural birthing) of care, throughout pregnancy, delivery and postpartum. They believe in evidence-based guidelines, ethical practices, and empowering mothers to participate in decisions with complete informed consent. The vision is to transform the birthing experience for women across India.

The aim was to transform the space into exactly what the vision of Aastrika held - a nurturing, collaborative commitment to mother-centric care with state-of-the-art facilities including India’s first Sensory Birthing Suite, along with water birthing pools. A place where mothers and their families could feel safe, empowered and at home through pregnancy and childbirth.

As consultant architect with Camomile Healthcare, the overall infrastructure management for the client was undertaken. This included, but was not limited to:

Site feasibility studies to identify a suitable property for the project - survey and assessment of close to 100 sites in Bangalore
Identification, on-boarding and management of Project Architects, Contractors, and PMC
Review of facility plan, functional design and space program
Identification, planning and sourcing of birth tub equipment, sensory systems and content in birthing suites
Monitoring design development and execution
Monitoring project timelines and budgets
Ensuring facility compliance with healthcare standards