Yahoo – AFP,
May 30, 2017
Beirut (AFP) - Neo-natal wards and emergency rooms in a northern Syrian hospital will from Tuesday have uninterrupted electricity for the first time in years thanks to new solar panels, a charity said.
This file picture shows a Syrian nurse standing next to incubators with newborns at a children's hospital on June 9, 2016 (AFP Photo/KARAM AL-MASRI) |
Beirut (AFP) - Neo-natal wards and emergency rooms in a northern Syrian hospital will from Tuesday have uninterrupted electricity for the first time in years thanks to new solar panels, a charity said.
Hospitals
in rebel-controlled Syrian territory face life-threatening power outages due to
air strikes or shortages of the precious fuel used for their generators.
The Union
of Medical Care and Relief Organisations (UOSSM) hopes their new solar project
can circumvent both challenges.
The UOSSM
has installed 480 solar panels at a large hospital in opposition-controlled
territory in northern Syria since December, it said, and the project officially
went online on Tuesday.
The medical
charity declined to specify the hospital's location out of fear it would be
targeted by bombardment.
"Our
goal was to install a solar energy system that can provide clean, reliable and
low-cost energy to Syrian emergency hospitals," said Tarek Makdissi, who
directs UOSSM's Syria Solar project.
"Patients
in this hospital should never be hurt again because of a power cut," said
Makdissi.
The World
Health Organization has called Syria the world's most dangerous place for
health workers, and hundreds of medical facilities have been destroyed in the
six-year war.
Some of the
most infamous attacks on medical infrastructure took place as government forces
tried to retake second city Aleppo from rebels last year.
'Living
under bombardment'
One attack
there in August left four newborn babies dead after the force of the blast cut
off the oxygen supply to their incubators.
Last month
alone, medics said air strikes knocked seven hospitals and clinics out of
service in the northwestern province of Idlib.
According
to UOSSM, the panels will help their facility save more than 7,000 litres
(1,850 gallons) of expensive diesel each month -- amounting to an average of
20-30 percent of its energy costs.
They will
help power care for between 700 and 800 patients.
And in case
the power cuts completely, wards like the neo-natal facility, intensive care
units, and emergency rooms can still run independently, said Shadi Alshhadeh,
head of UOSSM's Switzerland branch.
The
hospital's medical staff first thought of installing solar panels in 2014.
"When
I first heard the idea, I thought these guys were crazy -- they're living under
bombardment and thinking about clean, alternative energy?" Alshhadeh told
AFP.
"But
in reality, this isn't just about energy or the environment. This will allow
all critical departments to keep working if there's bombing near the hospitals
or if the power cuts," he said.
UOSSM will
now seek about $1.5 million to fund solar panels at five more hospitals in
rebel-held areas of northern Syria.
The
conflict in Syria erupted in March 2011 with widespread anti-government
protests, but it has since evolved into a multi-front civil war.
More than
320,000 people have been killed and millions displaced by the violence.