Approximately one billion people in the world depend on medical care with unsafe or no electricity supply, such as the World Health Organization, the World Bank and the International Renewable Energy Organization write in a report. In countries in South Asia or south of the Sahara, more than ten percent of health facilities are completely without electricity. Most of the medical facilities with unreliable or no power supply are therefore located in remote areas. The facilities are dependent on diesel generators for the power supply.
Medical devices require a lot of electricity
In its report, the WHO points out that access to electricity can make the difference between life and death. Among other things, the care of newborns, emergency rescue in the event of a heart attack, the sterilization of instruments and the cooling of medication, as well as telemedicine, in which specialist doctors can be asked for advice from afar, are particularly critical. According to estimates by the World Bank, almost two-thirds of health facilities in developing countries are in urgent need of help to provide more reliable electricity, which the report says is a prerequisite for basic medical care.
For example, 86 percent of global maternal mortality in 2017 was located south of the Sahara and in Southeast Asia. Child mortality in these regions is also much higher than the global average. According to the report, steam sterilizers, cooling and X-ray devices, as well as simple devices such as lamps, draw a lot of electricity.
List of power consumption of various devices in the hospital (excerpt)
Progress can be seen, but further expansion is necessary
In recent years, progress has been made in connecting to the electricity grid. In Liberia, for example, over 80 percent of hospitals and medical facilities have electricity. About a quarter of the facilities get their electricity from the grid, and more than half use solar power as their primary power source. A fifth of healthcare facilities rely on power generators.
However, the World Bank points out that the operation of the diesel generators is often dependent on donations and therefore does not serve as a constant power source. In Germany, power generators are only used in exceptional situations. If there is a power failure in a hospital in this country, an emergency power generator switches on within seconds, keeping the power supply alive at least in the most important areas. The surgical area and the intensive care units notice a power failure according to the Sana clinics nothing. If the power fails for a longer period of time, there is an emergency plan. A hospital cannot cope with a long-term power failure alone, and then further help from the fire brigade, police, civil protection and others is required.
PV systems as an opportunity
In Germany, the topics of power shortages and blackouts only came into focus in the course of the energy crisis, and hospitals are also confronted with rising energy prices. c’t solar expert Andrijan Möcker is of the opinion that German hospitals should also build photovoltaic systems in order to cover their power consumption entirely or at least in part with solar energy. Especially since such systems would also work in the event of a power failure if the technical conception was correct and would thus relieve the generator, which burns less diesel. But despite the knowledge about renewable energies, dependencies on countries like Russia have persisted for decades. According to the WHO report, 4.9 billion US dollars are needed to expand decentralized systems such as photovoltaic systems in countries with less reliable power supplies.
(mack)
