Boosting PHCs services in FCT through solar systems
The health sector in Nigeria is one riddled with a myriad of problems, ranging from poor infrastructure, to inadequate funding, corruption in hospital administration, lack of power supply, insufficient number of qualified personnel, as well as, poor remuneration and working conditions for personnel. Primary health care (PHC) is the first port of call for people […]
The health sector in Nigeria is one riddled with a myriad of problems, ranging from poor infrastructure, to inadequate funding, corruption in hospital administration, lack of power supply, insufficient number of qualified personnel, as well as, poor remuneration and working conditions for personnel.
Primary health care (PHC) is the first port of call for people at the grassroots level when it comes to accessing health services. It is the community’s hospital and is tasked with providing health services tailored to the peculiar needs of the respective communities where they are located.
Services rendered under the PHC system cut across preventive, curative and rehabilitative medicine, as well as, health information dissemination.
Nigeria has a total of 30,000 PHC facilities and the FCT has more than 50 of such facilities, most of which are sadly, overburdened, unequipped and in a general state of disrepair due to negligence and poor maintenance.
Many of these facilities cannot operate on a round-the-clock basis as they ought to due to the absence of power to give illumination during the night hours.
A good number of them are not even connected to the national electricity grid due to their location or owing to the fact that, with their poor funding, they are unable to pay electricity bills.
Now, more than ever, there is increased need for government to consider alternative sources of power supply, that are not only constant and reliable but clean and sustainable, especially for the health sector where lives hang on a balance and can be easily lost when power is cut, absent or isn’t produced from a clean and health-friendly source.
Medical laboratories, operating theatres, refrigerators for storage of vaccines and other medical perishables, computers for hospital inventories, medical equipment and even the wards need electricity for illumination and to power fans and other available cooling systems in order for patients to be as comfortable as possible.
Electricity is also needed to power water pumps where they are available, to provide clean water for use in the facilities instead of the reliance on local water vendors popularly known as “mai ruwa” that is obtainable in many health facilities in the FCT.
Doctors, nurses and other staff need electricity for the day-to-day discharge of their duties. The place of power supply in the daily running of medical facilities is absolutely indispensable in this day and age.
According to a Situation Analysis of PHCs in the FCT, there are currently 2 PHCs in Abuja: Karu and Dakwa that are enjoying constant power supply in excess of their electricity demands from their installed off-grid solar power systems.
These facilities benefitted from well-meaning organizations and individuals who, as part of their corporate social responsibility, provided them with solar photovoltaic systems that have greatly impacted the rate of patronage of these facilities.
Staff report that since the installation, there has not been a single instance of power outage. Now they can power all their equipment and have the privilege of deciding what to do with the excess power generated.
With these success stories, one would wonder why government has not hopped on the opportunity to try off-grid solar generated power for PHCs as it is cost-effective (with the estimated cost being between 2.5 – 3 million naira), clean, sustainable and can produce more than the required power output at no extra cost.
Moving forward, there is a need for the government to look into investing in these power generation facilities. PHCs should also receive more government funding in the planning and budgeting for the health sector to facilitate these purchases and their subsequent installment and maintenance.
These funds and their due utilization should be monitored to reduce the chances of them being misappropriated at any level. Also, security around PHCs should be beefed up to ensure that these infrastructures are not vandalized or stolen by unscrupulous elements in the communities.
On their part, corporate organizations and well-meaning persons, as part of their corporate social responsibility, can assist the government in providing and installing these solar systems, as well as, in their maintenance.
Bassey Bassey writes from Abuja