Description
Introduction
While most of the health facilities in India are connected with electricity (primarily through non-renewable sources of energy), health facilities in the interior and remote areas often face challenge in terms of erratic power supply including power cut or low voltage, which affect the delivery of health services and functioning of critical equipment. Besides that, impact of carbon emissions from health facilities, on climate change has also become a major cause of concern. As per a 2019 report, at global level, health care’s climate footprint is equivalent to 4.4% of global net emissions. In such scenario, Chhattisgarh (one of the poorest states in the India with large remote and disaster prone areas) launched an initiative to promote use of solar energy in health facilities to address power deficit, reduce carbon emissions and mitigate the impact of natural disasters.
Methodology
In the state, till 2023, solar power plants are installed across 1,432 public health facilities with a total capacity of 457 MW by Chhattisgarh State Renewable Energy Development Agency (CREDA). These power plants generate 66,72,200 kWh of electricity per year. The installation of the solar plants was undertaken in phased manner and health facilities with power deficits were prioritised. Institutional arrangements were made to ensure regular maintenance and avoid downtime.
Findings
Due to improvement in power supply, the health facilities in the state were no longer facing issues related to refrigeration and storage of lifesaving drugs and vaccines. The use of solar energy has also resulted in improvement in service availability, reduction in carbon emission and expenditure on electricity. An assessment was undertaken in 83 facilities to measure the improvement due to the provision of solar energy. 98% respondents from facilities with solar energy shared that solar has helped in the day-to-day operations of the staff/doctors in the facilities, 89% facilities experienced cost savings in electricity expenditure and 79.5% facilities shared that solar energy has provided electricity as promised. 77% facilities shared that availability of in-patient services and institutional deliveries have improved, specially in night.
Conclusion
The solarization of health centers has not only saved money, cut carbon emissions but also provided energy security, and thus, quality health care to the communities. It has also strengthened the existing health infrastructure, so that it can be prepared to face future health challenges, epidemics, outbreaks, or any climate change-induced adversity and deal with them.
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