Health Care Without Harm Partners in India, led by the Centre for Environmental Health - Public Health Foundation of India (PHFI) together with various research groups, healthcare institutions, think tanks, and sustainable development organizations released an open letter calling for the improvement of rural healthcare through the employment of sustainable solar energy for clinics.
Click here to read the Press release, Click here, to read the Open Letter_ A Sustainable Energy Path to Universal Healthcare in Rural India
The letter outlines 4 key interventions that the government can undertake in order to help alleviate the situation:
1. Expanding the programme to solarize clinics, drawing from the example of Chhattisgarh state which has successfully done this;
2. Allocating dedicated funding towards this initiative, which would amount to just 0.6% of the current 2020-21 energy and healthcare budget;
3. Ensuring long-term operations and sustainability by working through existing structures; and
4. Promoting innovation in order to develop more financially viable and energy-efficient medical equipment. The letter is being sent to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, the National Centre for Disease Control, the National Health Systems Resource Centre, the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, the Ministry of Power, and Niti Aayog.