Health facilities are grouped into 7 categories, according to the Ministry of Health & Social Welfare[1].

1. Teaching Hospital

2. General Hospitals

3. District Hospitals

4. Major Health Centers

5. Minor Health Centers

6. Village Clinics

7. Community Clinics

The project will address the electricity needs of the 100 health facilities presented in the table below:[2]

[1] According data provided by to MoHSW and data available in the Health Statistics 2016 issued by the Gambia MoHSW

[2] While this study was based on installing PV/battery systems 1029 schools and 100 health facilities, as above, the final number of facilities will depend on a final determination of the amount grant funds that will be reserved for O&M costs. EIB has requested that MoBSE and MHSW, with support of the TAF, prepare a list of their facilities, prioritizing off-grid facilities, those with PV systems, and such other criteria as the Ministries may decide upon.

The direct beneficiaries of the project are the about 792,000 total patients (estimated for 2017) in one of the 100 retained health facilities of the country that will be powered with solar PV systems, as well as hundreds of health facility staff working and living in the buildings that will be provided with PV systems.

In 2017, there were 339,224 male and 453,746 females that attended visited health facilities in the country. These figures include approximately 60,000 outpatients under 14 years of age who are regarded as children. The total number of male and female inpatients stood at 6,438 and 5,803 respectively. Source: Department of Planning and Information, MHSW.

Due to budget constraints, not all the schools and health facilities of the country will be provided with PV systems. After PV/battery systems are installed in all public facilities, other facilities may be equipped with PV systems to the limit of the funds available.

Since 2015, most heath facilities have access to a minimum electricity service. Power Up Gambia and We Care Solar, two NGOs in cooperation with the Ministry of Health & Social Welfare (MoHSW), have installed solar suitcases in about 60 remote rural clinics. The system equipped with a 40 or 80 watt solar panel and a 12Ah sealed lead acid battery, is enough to have some lighting at night, to charge cell phones and batteries (AAA or AA) during the day, outlets for 12V DC devices and to operate a fetal heart monitor. Moreover, two hospitals, Bansang hospital and Sulayman Junkung hospital, had PV solar generation systems installed with Power Up Gambia’s support.

The Project will address the electricity needs of the following 100 health facilities

Facility Loads

Key appliances and equipment for medical facilities can be divided into six categories:

· Lighting

· Refrigeration

· Water supply

· Staff housing

· Sterilization and

· Information and communication technology (ICT)

Representative loads for each type of health facility is as follows:

· Health clinics (village and community facilities): communication system, lighting and refrigerator.

· District health centers (medium): communication system, computer, lighting, refrigerator, TV, microscope, water pump, fan, centrifuge machine, sterilizer, water treatment, water supply and staff amenities.

· Regional hospitals (large): communication system, computer, lighting, refrigerator, TV, microscope, water pump, fan, centrifuge machine, sterilizer, water treatment, water supply, X-ray equipment, operation theatre devices, spectrophotometer, and staff amenities.

The table below lists the main facility sub-types for public health facilities considered for this project and their principal power requirements in terms of equipment and use.

The quantity of electricity consumed and the consumption per load type differ between health facility categories:

Provision of electricity

Based on the pre-feasibility study of The Gambia PV project for schools and health facilities prepared in 2018, the sizing parameter for health facilities is 4 kWh/outpatient per year is retained for largest health facilities (20%), resulting in PV systems ranging from 30 kWp to 1 MWp (totaling to about 3MW for 7 hospitals); from 12 kWp to 74 kWp for the 10 major/distric health centers; while 2 kWh/outpatient per year is used for the remaining health facilities (80%), resulting in 6,5 kWp PV/Battery system (for on-grid and off-grid facilities).

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