daniel chigunwe
Trust Freddy
Herald Correspondent
The Ministry of Energy and Power Development has launched an assessment initiative to accelerate the integration of decentralised renewable energy solutions into the country’s healthcare system.
The effort aims to identify areas for improvement, provide tailored solutions, and enhance the overall efficiency and reliability of healthcare service delivery.
Speaking during the validation workshop for the roadmap for sustainable energising of healthcare delivery held in Harare yesterday, the Permanent Secretary for Energy and Power Development, Dr Gloria Magombo, said: “The programme is not just to do an assessment but to come up with solutions for each level of healthcare, where we will then make recommendations, look for partners who can work with us together with the Government of Zimbabwe, which is already leading the programme through the Rural Electrification Agency.”
The latest development, Dr Magombo said, was part of the ongoing Ministry of Energy’s review of the National Energy Policy of 2012.
“We are looking at what our priorities are, what forms of energy we want to develop going forward, and at the same time, we are also doing a national electrification strategy, which came from a national electrification analysis where we identified the level of access in the country, and we also identified how to accelerate access to modern energy and ensure that we have universal access by 2030.”
Dr Magombo said the energy sector was a key prerequisite for good healthcare services.
She also commended the UNDP, which has solar-powered over 1,000 healthcare centres in the country.
Mashonaland West Provincial Medical Director Dr Celestino Dhege described the decentralisation of renewable energy as key, especially in rural areas.
“Probably up to about 60-70 percent of our healthcare facilities are in rural areas. And a lot of them are in areas where power from the national grid is not available, so decentralising renewable energy becomes critical.
“The Ministry of Health and Child Care, through support from the Global Fund and working with the UNDP, have for quite a number of years now been solarising our primary care facilities.”
The International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), an intergovernmental organisation that promotes the use of renewable energy, was given the task to assess the feasibility of deploying decentralised renewable energy solutions for powering the health sector. According to its findings, 41 out of 51 health facilities it surveyed had solar installations.
However, it discovered that solar systems often fail to meet energy demands due to maintenance issues and not being designed for such conditions.
The Ministry of Energy recently carried a similar assessment and deployed a team to assess the progress of decentralised renewable energy solutions in the agriculture sector.
This project will furnish the Government of Zimbabwe and its development partners with relevant information necessary for strategic planning.
