The South African government is planning on spending the country’s money again. This time, though, it actually sounds like a good idea. SA’s government is investigating installing solar power at various State hospitals around the country.

Since hospitals deal with residents who need electricity to live, this sounds like a fantastic plan. A plan that is being hammered out by the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) and the Department of Health, but still just a plan.

Solar-powered medicine

The announcement was made during a different announcement revealing that another five hospitals in the country have been exempted from load shedding. At present, 77 health facilities won’t have to cope with the regular downtime. Unless something breaks. Or is stolen. Or sets itself on fire. But exempting all hospitals in the country is easier said than done, which is why the solar route is being investigated.

“The Department of Health is on the right track with efforts to ensure the priority hospitals are excluded from load shedding as part of plans to minimise the disruptions on the provision of essential health services during power outages,” said the department in a statement.

A solar-powered hospital isn’t an outlandish idea at all. South African residents are increasingly turning to solar power in a bid to escape Eskom’s unreliability. Hospitals, which deal with far more important matters than watching Netflix or warm coffee, should probably also have the same failsafe.

Source: BusinessTech