Solar lighting system installed at rural health center

By Jacob Marcos

Solar lighting system is user-friendly and convenient for electricity purposes where there is not power supply.

Just recently at the remote Inu sub-health centre in Kutubu, Southern Highlands, a Soro mother safely delivered a newborn child under the lighting  a newly installed solar lighting system.

Thanks to the Oil Search Foundation for providing and installing the solar lighting systems in the sub-health centre.

The centre is run by the Evangelical Church of PNG and has been providing health services to the people of the area for many years. But recently it required some urgent repairs.

Repairs were made by the Oil Search Foundation (OSF) to restore adequate water supply to the centre and provide lighting to maternity rooms to facilitate clean, safe and secure deliveries.

"A new solar system now powers the lighting at Inu sub-health centre so that staff can conduct emergency procedures and supervise mothers in labour at night," Nurse in-charge of the centre Rodney Alu said.

Less than a week after the Oil Search Foundation had installed the standalone solar powered system, the Soro mother was in labour and admitted after dark at Inu, Alu said.

health centre. After delivery of a healthy baby the mother developed a severe "haemorrhage" (bleed profusely from a raptured blood vessel).

He said without adequate lighting the midwife would not have been able to successfully detect and resolve the problem and reduce bleeding to prevent further complications and even death.

“Such procedures are normally done at bigger hospitals, however we were successful because there was reliable lighting in the room that night giving the mother a real chance,” Alu said

The solar power system that the Oil Search Foundation installed does more than only provide lighting. The solar system is a 1,000 watt unit capable of also powering radio, vaccine fridge, water pump and mobile phones.

Accorind to the OSF, the solar system can store and provide power for up to six days during poor weather.

The OSF Provincial Development Manager for Kutubu, Steve Groves, described the solution as a durable system designed to provide low voltage power with the capacity to power all essentials in the health facility.

“Inu is the first facility in which we have installed this new solar power system. More will be rolled out through the year as we ramp up our health facility improvement schedule in partnership with provincial and local health service providers,” Groves said.

Photo: Steve Groves and Thomas Imagu from the Oil Search Foundation installing a solar power unit at Inu sub-health centre in Nipa-Kutubu.