PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa health department has sent a summary to the Chief Minister’s Secretariat seeking approval of the plan to install solar energy systems at basic health units and rural health centres across the province to ensure smooth electric supply and thus, improving patient care.

In the summary titled ‘solarisation of healthcare facilities in KP’, the department insisted that the prolonged power breakdowns had been the main cause of the disruption of patient care at health centres and therefore, solar energy systems would ensure their smooth functioning.

It said it had conducted a survey of the category A, B, C and D hospitals providing round-the-clock services to patients at the district level, which showed that the shortage of electricity was major impediment in the way of patient care.

According to it, the survey done through the Independent Monitoring Unit was aimed at identifying facilities facing the shortage of electricity and knowing about their energy needs for conversion to solar system.

Health dept puts up Rs360m plan for CM Secretariat’s nod

“A total of 1,258 facilities surveyed from March 28 to April 4 showed that 60 of them had no electricity, 121 faced 10 hours loadshedding daily and one had ‘nonfunctional electricity’ due to the reasons other than loadshedding.”

The department said the survey had focused on 221 rural health centres and found that 14 per cent of them had either no electricity or ‘nonfunctional’ electricity.

It added that of the identified health facilities with electricity issues, 23 per cent had no electric supply, whereas 77 per cent had ‘nonfunctional electricity’ due to loadshedding or low voltage.

According to the survey, at the identified facilities with electricity problems, the percentage of facilities with ‘nonfunctional electricity’ is higher than those with no electricity except civil hospitals and mother and child health centres.

Two-thirds of the facilities having no electricity are located in Kohistan and Mansehra, whereas Shangla and Swat have the second highest number of such facilities.

Battagram district has the highest number of facilities with nonfunctional electricity followed by Abbottabad, Lower Dir, Upper Dir and Peshawar.

The duration of loadshedding ranges from 10 hours to 22 hours daily at the health facilities with ‘nonfunctional electricity’ caused by loadshedding.

There are 25 healthcare facilities, mostly in Battagram, which face 20 hours loadshedding daily.

The summary said the maximum power load for 221 health facilities was 3311 kilowatts for which the rough estimate was Rs14.8 million if the plan was for patient care, including diagnostics and treatment, while it was 4500 kilowatts if the power was made available for all residences at the facilities, which would cost Rs26.5 million.

It however said other factors, including a three-year after-sales service warranty period and fast changing technology might influence the overall cost of the project.

The summary said annually, the health department paid Rs344 million for electricity every year, while the solarisation of health facilities would cost Rs360 million, a one-time investment.

If the plan is materialised, it will save electricity for general consumption of the people, industries and will boost up economic activities as well.

“The solarisation of health facilities will ensure the continued provision of services, including diagnostics, surgeries and OPDs, to the people and will save money for the health department, which can be diverted to clinical activities,” the summary said.

It added that the supply of clean and green energy was another advantage of the plan.

The summary said the investment in solarisation of health facilities would pay back the actual financial cost within two to three years besides offering socioeconomic benefits.

Published in Dawn, July 30th, 2017