The Apostolic Vicariate of the Archipelago of the Comoros, with our Bishop Charles Mahuza Yava and the Salvatorian communities, launched the project Powerful Health. The aim of the project is to provide the Sister Colette Hospital in Moroni, a major hospital in the country’s capital serving about 16,000 patients per year, with green energy through the installation of a 20 kW photovoltaic system.
Currently, MIVA Austria, the organization in charge of the project’s technical execution is filling a container with solar panels, batteries and a backup generator in Austria. MIVA will carry out the installation in October upon the arrival of the equipment in Moroni. Caritas Comoros, the Salvatorians’ local partner, manages the hospital and assures the logistics in collaboration with our confreres there. Very soon the hospital’s roof will be reinforced to host 82 solar panels of 250 W each. SOFIA helped to write the proposal and managed to raise financial support from Misean Cara in Ireland and Aktion Hoffnung in Augsburg, Germany. After the rural electrification project ELKAP in the Congo, this is another important green energy project of the Society.
Thanks to the photovoltaic power system, the hospital will be energy independent and able to increase the quality of the health services In particular, it will ensure that incubators will work and thus increase the survival of prematurely born babies.
Bishop Charles Mahuza Yava SDS has expressed how pleased he is with the project:
“We are really very happy to see the launch of this project, after a two-year collaboration between Moroni, Rome and Austria on the design and advocacy. It will bring huge relief to the staff and the patients who come to our health center, because with the new system our equipment will be fully operational and the activities can continue also in case of power shortages.
Thanks to this system the hospital will gain energy autonomy and be able to increase the quantity and the quality of its service for a community of about 25,000 inhabitants. We are looking forward to the technical installation and the training of our local staff and thus then autonomously supply the hospital’s energy needs. I want to express my deep gratitude to SOFIA, which supported us in the process of designing the project and acquiring the necessary funding.
Beneficiaries will be first and foremost the poor and all those who visit the Centre de Santé Sr. Colette. They will be sure to be accepted and treated at any time of the day. The usual story ‘sorry, but there is no electricity, you will have to wait’ will be something of the past. The sick will save time, the treatment will speed up und many more people will be welcomed and cured. In short: a win-win situation for everybody!”
