Frequent disruptions in power supply or lack of it come in the way of delivering healthcare facilities in rural areas as most of the equipment require constant power supply.

Considering this, Selco Solar Light has taken steps to provide solar energy to more than 1,520 healthcare centres in rural areas of the country.

Guruprakash Shetty, Deputy General Manager of Selco Solar Light, said that Selco, through its interventions with government healthcare centres, tries to understand the energy needs of the healthcare system, assess the gaps, and create effective solutions for basic health services that can solve issues from the end-user perspective.

Asked about the concentration of the solar-powered healthcare centres in the country, Shetty told BusinessLine that a majority of them are located in Bihar, Odisha and in northeastern States. States such as Manipur and Meghalaya are showing interest in providing solar power connectivity to healthcare centres, he said.

Solar power facility has been provided to around 160 healthcare centres in rural parts of Karnataka to operate the healthcare infrastructure.

Selco has partnered with many non-governmental organisations and local governments to identify the gaps and provide solutions that can improve the overall experience of our rural communities visiting these centres, he said.

Solar power system capacity in these centres varies between 2 and 5 KW depending upon the healthcare infrastructure in that particular place. The healthcare centres would not face difficulty to upgrade their energy system whenever they get additional equipment, he said.

In some places, local governments and organisations have come along with Selco to set up the solar power units in healthcare centres. Around 70 per cent of these units are set up by Selco.

Quoting the figures from the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, he said it is estimated that 4.4 per cent of primary healthcare centres (PHCs) are not electrified. People in these areas are at the mercy of health facilities with no electricity.

Maternal mortality reduction

Highlighting the role of PHCs in the delivery of healthcare services in rural areas of the country, he said solar-based ecosystem solution in a PHC ensures maternal mortality reduction. The solution blankets all the critical and necessary medical loads used for cold chain, and deliveries (in labour room) etc.

Referring to his interaction with a doctor working on Covid vaccination in rural areas, he said the latter was finding it difficult to upload the vaccination data because of power failures in the village. With the installation of solar system in the doctor’s PHC, he is no more at the mercy of grid supply, he said.

Stressing the need to empower grass-root level healthcare workers such as ASHA (Accredited Social Health Activist) and auxiliary nurse and midwife (ANMs) with solar power, he said Selco has provided solar connectivity to the houses of many such workers. Since these workers tour the villages assigned to them, they carry medical kits of which, some need to be charged. Solar power installation in their houses will help them tackle the power issues in their areas, he said.

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