Work has begun on installing solar panels and batteries at an Ile Ife hospital – allowing surgery to continue to function safely and effectively.
Construction worker installing solar panel at Obafemi Awolowo University Teaching Hospital
The University of Birmingham and Global Hospital have joined forces to install solar power at a Nigerian hospital – providing medical staff with the power required to continue delivering surgery and patient treatment during blackouts.
Work has begun on installing solar panels and batteries at Obafemi Awolowo University Teaching Hospital (OAUTH), in Ile Ife – allowing operating theatres and intensive care unit to continue to function safely and effectively.
The NIHR Global Health Research Unit on Global Surgery (GSU) at the University of Birmingham is working on the project with Global Hospital – the commercial and industry-leading healthcare infrastructure development arm of Kids Operating Room, the world’s leading NGO focused on children’s surgery.
Surgery is highly reliant on electricity, for operating lights, key-hole surgery equipment, cautery, suction, and monitoring. Although most outages in OAUTH are short, they can cause changes in procedure and impact patients. Solar power is a viable solution, as it is increasingly cheap and easy to install. It provides renewable energy and has a long lifespan.
Global Hospital has installed solar power in more than 120 hospitals across 30 countries, helping to ensure that power outages do not stand in the way of life-saving operations.
Work at OAUTH is the first of two pilot projects in a world-wide campaign to raise $100 million to equip 100 hospitals across the Global South with secure, clean energy that will help them maintain vital health services and save lives. The other pilot will be at Chinchpada Christian Hospital, in India.
Adewale Adisa, Professor of Surgery at Obafemi Awolowo University, commented: “Surgery is highly reliant on electricity, for operating lights, key-hole surgery equipment, cautery, suction, and monitoring.
“Although most outages in OAUTH are short, they can cause changes in procedure and impact patients. Solar power is a viable solution, as it is increasingly cheap and easy to install. It provides renewable energy and has a long lifespan.”
OAUTH is an 850 bed first generation tertiary hospital covering a wide range of surgical subspecialities, transplantation and open-heart surgery. There are power outages in 55% of operations, with most power cuts occurring at 3pm, during working hours.
Electricity is vital for healthcare, but power losses are frequent in the Global South. All too often, these dangerous power failures leave hospitals unable to help patients in need. Installing solar power systems at OAUTH is the first step towards providing reliable electricity that will save lives.
The multi-award-winning Solar Surgery System being deployed was designed specifically to help address this problem. By utilising solar panels on the facility roof, connected to a smart-battery in the theatre - supplemented by the mains electricity when it is available - the system harnesses Nigeria’s most powerful and sustainable natural resource, its sunlight, to ensure operations are never interrupted again. Work is expected to be completed by early October.
The NIHR GSU launched the 100-4-100 Project at the Research for Greener Surgery Conference 2024, which took place on the University of Birmingham’s UK campus. Philanthropic donations have enabled OAUTH’s solar power project to go ahead.
This year’s Research for Greener Surgery Conference takes place on Wednesday, 17 December at the University of Birmingham’s UK campus - registration is now open.
Mr. Aneel Bhangu, Professor of Global Surgery at the University of Birmingham commented: “As we approach COP30 in Brazil, the need to deploy clean energy that will help save the environment is ever-present. We are seeking $100 million to implement and evaluate on-site clean energy strategies for 100 major hospitals across the Global South – allowing staff to operate safely, preventing avoidable deaths.”
Hospitals in the Global South often experience dangerous power failures, with 88% losing power for at least four hours a week on average. The 100-4-100 Project aims to install solar power at 100 hospitals in remote areas in Benin, Ghana, India, Mexico, Nigeria, Rwanda, and South Africa.
The 100-4-100 Project seeks to equip 100 hospitals in remote areas across these seven countries with comprehensive strategies for secure, clean energy - including plans for solar panels, batteries for energy storage, and LED lighting.
NIHR GSU is at the forefront of improving surgical outcomes worldwide. Its work has been recognized with a scientific Guinness World Record for research on the impacts of COVID-19 on surgical patients, involving over 140,000 patients in 116 countries.
For more information, please contact the University of Birmingham press office or +44 (0) 121 414 2772.
The University of Birmingham is ranked amongst the world’s top 100 institutions, its work brings people from across the world to Birmingham, including researchers and teachers and more than 8,000 international students from over 150 countries.
Global Hospital is the commercial arm of Kids Operating Room, the world’s leading children’s surgery charity. Kids Operating Room provide more than 200,000 children a year with access to safe surgery across 40 low- and middle-income countries. Global Hospital makes the skills and experience of charity available to all healthcare services in low-resource settings. The company is entirely owned by the charity and any profits it generates are donated to the charity to develop more access to safe surgery for children in the world’s most resource-limited settings.
Professor of Global Surgery and Surgical Systems
Staff profile for Mr Aneel Bhangu, Professor of Global Surgery & Consultant Surgeon, Department of Applied Health Sciences, College of Medicine and Health
