Powering Surgery with Solar
How a BHI-designed solar microgrid is helping a pediatric hospital increase access to live-changing surgery
Clubfoot, knock knees, burn contractures, and cleft lips — all conditions that can be readily treated if surgical facilities are available. But in Niger, CURE International’s Hôpital des Enfants is the only pediatric hospital equipped to offer these complex surgeries.
Now imagine the added complexity if, while operating, you knew the lights could go out at any moment. Is the backup generator working? How much of this month’s budget will have to go to diesel? Will a power surge break the only x-ray machine?
This the reality of surgery for most hospitals in sub-Saharan Africa, and it was the reality at Hôpital des Enfants until earlier this year when BHI designed and built a 400-panel solar microgrid — the perfect solution for a hospital located on the edge of the Sahara Desert, with an average of 8.5 hours of sunlight every day.
According to a 2015 World Health Organization report, only 28% of health facilities and 34% of hospitals in sub-Saharan Africa had “reliable” access to electricity (without prolonged interruptions in the past week), which is critical for many health interventions, including the use of anesthesia machines and oxygen concentrators. Power outages can put patients’ lives at risk.
In Niger, the national electric grid does not have the capacity to reliably meet all customers’ energy needs. The new microgrid enables Hôpital des Enfants to be completely independent from the national grid, providing consistent, reliable power to the entire hospital.
No longer is there fear of power outages or rising fuel prices. Rather, in just the first nine months of operation the new microgrid saved Hôpital des Enfants over $37,600 in fuel costs. Every dollar saved was reinvested to fund life-changing surgeries: 38 surgeries and counting!
Ela Hefler is Build Health International’s Development & Communications Specialist. She writes about the intersections of health and infrastructure, with a focus on the impact of BHI’s work on fragile health systems.
A version of this story was first published in Build Health International’s 2019 Annual Report — read it here.
