In Tamale, in the north of Ghana, we are often busy and have already left a sustainable footprint. In the city, which is considered one of the fastest growing in West Africa, we have already equipped the Radach Hotel, the Regal Hotel and most recently the recycling company Zablikani with solar systems. Now we have another customer that we are particularly pleased about: the Northern Community Eye Hospital (NCEH).
The contract with the eye clinic, which is located in the centre of Tamale, was negotiated and signed within just a few weeks
The vision of NCEH: Right to Sight and Health
Hospitals are of course part of the absolutely critical infrastructure and of course they have an emergency power generator. We are delighted to be able to provide the Northern Community Eye Hospital with affordable, reliable and green electricity.
90% of all visually impaired people worldwide live in developing countries. The Northern Community Eye Hospital is therefore urgently needed in a country with almost 35 million inhabitants, 140,000 of whom suffer from cataracts. According to current estimates, 200,000 Ghanaians are blind and over 1 million people suffer from some form of visual impairment. Fortunately, more than 80% of all visual impairments can be prevented or cured - if medical care such as that provided by the NCEH is available.
The hospital and vision centre are part of the social enterprise Right to Sight and Health, Inc. (RTSAH), whose main objective is to solve a social problem and which is financially independent and does not pay dividends to its owners. The founding members - Dr Judith Simon, an ophthalmologist, and Dr Bruce Mintz, an internist specialising in vascular medicine - have been involved in several medical missions in Mexico, Ghana and Cambodia since 2003. Judith Simon has been working permanently in Tamale since 2013, initially as head of the eye department at Tamale Teaching Hospital and now also responsible for setting up the eye clinic. She is one of four (!) permanent ophthalmologists for northern Ghana with a population of almost 5 million people.
To date, over 6,400 operations have been performed at the NCEH, including over 2,500 LASIK operations. The service is not limited to Tamale, as the NCEH also offers programmes for rural areas to ensure access to eye care for underserved populations. The hospital's ethos dictates that all patients must be cared for - regardless of their financial situation.
PV system crowns the new clinic
A new clinic is currently being built and is expected to be completed in April. The PV system will then be installed on the roof of the new clinic and will be quite small in the first phase, reaching around 13 kilowatt peak (kWp) with a 10 kWh battery storage system.
The plan is for the system to produce around 20,000 kWh per year and make a significant contribution to the energy supply. And to the protection of the environment, as we assume an annual saving of 9 tonnes of CO2. Assuming a service life of 25 years, this results in CO2 savings of 237 tonnes over this period. Perhaps it will be even more, because the clinic is thinking about expanding the system if necessary, depending on the success of the system and the financial resources.
The clinic is paying for the plant itself and a down payment has already been made.
Construction of the facility is planned to start at the same time or immediately after the construction of Zablikani. We will keep you up to date on this. Follow us on social media for updates!
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