Solarisation of all un-electrified primary healthcare centres (PHCs) in rural India is the key to tackle Covid-19 pandemic.

Outlining the steps needed to get to that goal, a collective of think tanks, research groups, healthcare service providers and renewable energy experts have come together to highlight the case for solarising of PHCs in rural India.

“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. Over 39,000 sub-centres (the first point of contact between the primary healthcare system and the community) serving 230 million people in rural India lack electricity,” said Harish Hande, Founder & Chairman, SELCO Foundation.

He added: “There are a lot of similarities between the solutions needed for long-term Covid relief and climate change. In both the cases the poor face most of the brunt. It’s time for us to recognise the role of sustainable energy in better delivery of health, resulting in a truly inclusive society.”

According to the note sent to all Central government departments and NITI Aayog, it said, “This severely impacts their capacity to offer optimal healthcare to patients. Decentralised renewable energy (DRE) can play a significant role in solving this problem quickly and affordably, for less than ₹30 per person in initial capital expenditure.”

Key interventions

The letter outlines four key interventions that the government can undertake in order to help alleviate the situation:

Expanding the programme to solarise clinics, drawing from the example of Chhattisgarh which has successfully done this; allocating dedicated funding towards this initiative, which would amount to just 0.6 per cent of the current 2020-21 energy and healthcare budget; ensuring long-term operations and sustainability by working through existing structures; and promoting innovation in order to develop more financially viable and energy-efficient medical equipment.

Poornima Prabhakaran, Deputy Director, Centre for Environmental Health, PHFI, said: “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.”

“The enhancements being planned in the rural health infrastructure in the aftermath of the Covid-19 break-out accords an opportunity to direct critical public funding (as also upscale CSR and private funding) towards electrifying the PHC infrastructure rapidly through DRE installations – for around ₹600 crore investment, 40,000- odd currently un-electrified sub-centres and PHCs can have a secure source of power and be equipped adequately for necessary functions,” Upendra Bhatt, Co-Founder & Managing Director, cKinetics.

“It gives healthcare workers options to access advanced technologies such as telemedicine, vaccine storage, baby-incubators and many others. Covid-19 is a crisis and an opportunity to accelerate up-gradation of rural healthcare infrastructure to a higher level with access to reliable clean energy.” said Adwait Joshi, CEO, CLEAN.

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