Bengaluru: SELCO through its interventions with government healthcare centres tries to understand the energy needs of the healthcare system and assess the gaps and create effective solutions for basic health services that can solve issues from the end user perspective.

Speaking to media persons in a press meet held here, Former MLC Capt Ganesh Karnik, BJP chief spokesperson said that SELCO has solar powered more than 1,520 healthcare centres across the country and more than 160 in Karnataka and provided essential medical equipment to these centres. SELCO has also partnered with many NGOs and local governments to identify the gaps and provide solutions that can improve the overall experience of our rural communities visiting these centres, he said.

In a press release provided, various solution at different levels were explained.

At the village level:

• Despite the efforts of last-mile health workers such as Accredited Social Health Activist (ASHA) workers and Auxiliary Nurse and Midwife (ANMs) in improving the possibilities of institutional and safe deliveries, a significant number of health centres in rural areas lack the equipment, energy systems and infrastructure facilities for basic maternal and child care.
• Pregnant Women who reside in remote terrains often miss regular prenatal check-ups because health care centres are often at long distances.
• A unique solution which provides an innovative portable maternal & child kit with all the essential equipment for maternal care to be offered at the doorstep. The kit will include the basic kits for maternal and child care including ANC, PNC and Delivery. The portable kit will also have basic diagnostic kits for testing anemia, blood sugar levels, urine albumin and malaria.
• Those kits are solar powered and contain all the required devices meant for prenatal & postnatal check-ups. As per WHO, there should be regular check-ups of a pregnant lady to ensure several healthcare facilities. For the irregular patients, solar powered electronic tab based tele-consultation with doctors can be an unique model to replicate elsewhere.

At the Sub-Centre level:

• In the public sector, a Sub-health Centre (Sub-centre) is the most peripheral and first contact point between the primary health care system and the community.
• One of the major responsibilities is to educate the community about the availability of maternal and child health services and encourage them to utilise the facilities.
• This is the first level of services which takes care & ensures reduction of maternal and infant mortality.
• Early registration of all pregnancies, ideally within the first trimester with minimal antenatal check-ups with services like general examination such as height, weight, B.P., anemia, abdominal examination, breast examination, Folic Acid Supplementation to be provided by any SC.
• For intranatal care, the primary responsibility of a SC is to promote institutional delivery. These SCs are usually manned by an Auxiliary Nurse Midwife (ANM) whose focus is on primitive and preventive healthcare services, and to act as a referral to the Primary Healthcare Center (PHC) for curative services.
• A complete Solar based solution can facilitate these centers to deliver better health services & improve mother & child healthcare scenarios, especially in rural areas.

At the Primary Health Centre level:

• PHCs play a major role, especially for the rural parts of the country.
• The Indian Public Health Standard guidelines suggest that Primary Health Centres should use solar power and energy efficient appliances. However, in reality, it is estimated that 4.4% of PHCs are un-electrified (MoHFW 2015), which translates to roughly 33 million rural Indians, who are at the mercy of health facilities with no electricity.
• The proposed Solar based eco-system solution in a PHC ensures maternal mortality reduction. The solution blankets all the critical & necessary medical loads used for Cold Chain, Deliveries (in Labour Room), Pharmacy, Laboratory etc.
• During the emergency of COVID in 2020 & 2021, SELCO has provided oxygen concentrators in the districts of Raichur, Chitradurga & Belgaum. Through partnerships with multiple organizations it has also set up 2 state of the art covid facilities in Karnataka & Bihar. Through its interventions in anganwadi centres,

SELCO is also trying to improve the infrastructure at the ground level. Apart from this they also cater their service to disease specific, Solar Powered Bed for Spinal cord injury. The government claims that 10 in 10,000 people in India suffer from spinal cord injury (SCI). But The Association of People with Disability (APD) has handled over 3000 SCI cases in Karnataka alone, that too in just 3-4 districts. The situation is worse than expected. This leads to bed sore which causes secondary infection and health issues. People who spend a lot of time sitting or lying down due to health problems such as spinal cord injuries, pressure injuries, and so forth. When the skin and the underlying tissues are deprived of oxygen, pressure ulcers and sores develop.