Solutions from around the country have demonstrated that DRE technologies can indeed enhance rural healthcare infrastructure and service delivery - ETEnergyWorld / May 30, 2020, 10:26 IST / By Divya Kottadiel
The ongoing COVID-19 crisis has highlighted several existing systemic gaps in services, especially to the rural poor. Inadequate healthcare infrastructure is one of them. Reverse migration has also put additional stress on an already overburdened rural health system, impacting its capacity not only in caring for those who have contracted the virus, but also other health and wellness issues in these regions. Despite an increase in electrification under Saubhagya, many health facilities are forced to function without proper electricity supply. Hospitals use diesel generators as back-up sources of power. These solutions are expensive, maintenance is difficult, and they contribute to air pollution in the area. Regular, reliable supply of power is critical in order to store much-needed vaccines and medicines, and to run life-saving equipment.
According to the 2018-2019 Rural Health Statistics report, around 39,000 rural health sub-centres in the country lack electricity. These community-based health centres play an important role in immunization, labour and deliveries, and antenatal and neonatal care. And, without reliable 24x7 electricity, the quality of healthcare services suffers, impacting several other development outcomes. Last month, close to 20 leaders of organizations from the health and renewable energy sectors published an open letter to the national government calling for action on this issue, making the case for solarizing all unelectrified sub-centres in rural India. The letter highlights that decentralized renewable energy (DRE) can play a significant role in ensuring that the 230 million people who are currently served by these unelectrified sub-centres have access to better quality healthcare, for less than INR 30 per person in initial capital expenditure. This is 0.6% of the current energy and healthcare budgets combined.
Solar-Powered Solutions
Solutions from around the country have demonstrated that DRE technologies can indeed enhance rural healthcare infrastructure and service delivery. Reliable access to power not only improves the quality of health services, but also makes health systems more resilient.
For example, Nav Jivan Hospital in Jharkhand, with support from an international NGO, conducted an energy assessment of their facility and complemented its existing electricity supply with solar power which now powers its ICU ventilators and can even support other ventilators in an emergency – something that has proved invaluable in fighting the COVID crisis in the state. Across several states, other NGOs and social enterprises continue to identify gaps between healthcare and energy and enable innovative customized solutions that cater to the unique needs of each health centre in order to help them provide quality healthcare in remote villages.
In Chhattisgarh, an assessment of 147 Primary Health Centres (PHCs) found that solar-powered PHCs showed a 59% increase in outpatient services, 78% increase in deliveries, and 45% improvement in laboratory services. Nearly 98% of PHCs said that solar power helped with their daily functioning. This was after the Chhattisgarh Renewable Energy Development Agency (CREDA), a non-profit implementation agency delivering renewable energy roll-out programs for the state government, installed off-grid solar PV power plants in 900 rural health centres across the state, with a cumulative capacity of 3 MW, an average of 3.3 kW per centre.
“Sustainable health infrastructure that leverages innovative , decentralised and energy efficient solutions will bring huge dividends for health in rural India. Transitioning to renewable energies across healthcare operations will ensure efficient service delivery and improved health outcomes,” says Dr. Poornima Prabhakaran, Deputy Director, Centre for Environmental Health, Public Health Foundation of India.
Energy efficiency and innovation in medical devices also play a role in ensuring quality health services. Scanning machines, portable screening kits, storage and cold chain facilities are important aspects of the healthcare ecosystem. Innovations in this sector rarely focus on efficiency and viability of machines in rural areas.
In Kalahandi, Odisha, social enterorises have also developed portable maternity kits that include a portable solar torch – to be used instead of kerosene lamps – along with basic diagnostic kits for testing for anaemia, blood sugar levels, and malaria. These kits have enabled pregnant women to get home-based check-ups, generated employment for skilled women, and have had a positive impact on mortality rates. In Assam, solar-powered medical refrigerators installed in boat clinics serve the state’s vast network of islands that face annual floods and are prone to water-borne diseases.
India is the world’s third-largest pharmaceutical producer, but inadequate cold chain logistics result in close to 20% of temperature-sensitive healthcare products arriving in a damaged or degraded condition because of broken or insufficient cold chains. Last year, the World Health Organization (WHO) gave its top rating to a solar-powered vaccine refrigerator made by an Indian company. The appliances are built to withstand hot and humid environments, and include a solar direct drive vaccine refrigerator that works straight from solar panels, without the need for batteries or regulators, with vaccine transport boxes that ensure an unbroken cold chain for transport periods of between 24 hours and 8 days.
From stand-alone appliances like solar-powered medical refrigeration units, to large-scale solar deployments that power entire health centres, DRE solutions are already supporting the National Rural Health Mission in its goal of establishing integrated, community-owned health delivery systems that measure up against accepted public health standards. What is now needed is a supportive policy framework and resource allocation in order to advance implementation across the country.
[This article was published as part of a series titled Energizing Rural India under an editorial partnership between ETEnergyworld and Power for All]