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https://www.positive.news/society/making-light-work-solars-potential-to-lift-rural-indians-out-of-poverty/>
"Imagine this. You’re living in a remote rural hamlet in the forested hills of
Mysore, in the southern Indian state of Karnataka. You’re miles from the
nearest doctor, a day’s journey by foot and bus to the nearest hospital. And
there’s no mains electricity. If you suddenly fall ill and need urgent medical
help, what are your chances?
A few years ago, they’d be slim. Today, though, you make your way a couple of
hundred metres down the track to a minor miracle: a small, gleaming white
building topped with solar panels. Inside, a specially trained health worker
checks you out, runs a few tests, takes your blood pressure, even does an ECG,
maybe gives you some lifesaving treatment or medicine. Then she connects you to
a doctor in a distant hospital, who’s right there on the screen, giving you the
sort of specialist consultation that would normally be far out of reach.
It sounds like one of those rosy scenarios beloved of futurists, but this isn’t
speculative fiction. The Climate Smart Health Clinic, as the sign over the door
declares, is here and now, in the village of Basavanagiri Hadi.
It’s part of an ambitious programme that is using a combination of solar power
and mobile connectivity to revolutionise the prospects for healthcare across
swathes of rural India. It springs from the Selco Foundation, an independent
not-for-profit, which is a sister organisation of Selco India, the country’s
leading solar company specialising in small-scale, decentralised systems.
With the backing of the Ikea Foundation, the scheme is designed to provide
reliable, clean and affordable electricity to 25,000 of the country’s state-run
primary health care (PHC) centres, as well as to explore entirely new ways of
delivering health services – like the ‘tele-clinic’ in this Mysore village.
The solar panels on its roof, along with inverter and battery packs, generate
enough electricity to power lights, monitor screen and camera, fans, vaccine
cooler, medical kit such as digital stethoscopes, and, of course, the vital
mobile connection to the distant hospitals."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
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mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
