Gaza Hospital Chosen for Solar Power Project

Doctors use a mobile phone for light as they treat a child critically injured during Israel's attacks on Gaza last November

       Power cuts have the capability to affect Israeli hospitals, specifically in Gaza, so severely that medical operations sometimes may have to be carried out under the faint light provided by doctors' mobile phones. Eager to improve such a situation, a Gaza-based scientist has teamed up with an international group to undertake a renewable energy project towards aiding the health industry. Its aim is originally to provide 168 solar panels and other equipment for Jenin Hospital in al-Shajaiyeh neighborhood, which is east of Gaza City.
      Haitham Ghanem, the scientist behind the project, claims his team decided to focus on the site "simply because this sole hospital lies in the densely-populated al-Shajaiyeh neighborhood and serves 250,000 inhabitants, whom are frequently exposed to Israeli violence from the adjacent border areas."
      Dr. Hisham Murtaja, deputy-chief of the hospital, remarks that he is glad that the three-story hospital has been chosen. "We continue to suffer from the power outage problems and sometimes we happen to carry out minor surgeries by the lights of doctors' mobile phones," he said. "It is true that we run a power generator here, which is too costly by the way. But still we continue to often suffer from maintenance problems as well as the problem of providing gasoline for the power generator itself."
     The project, known as Sunshine4Palestine, the project aims to launch in early 2014. It has a target goal of raising $215,000 in donations by the expected time period next year. Achieving this target goal could require much effort as the project has only a total of $7,000 in its funds savings. The project will require construction of a new roof for the hospital at an estimated cost of $38,500. By storing power in batteries, the system would be capable of powering the hospital throughout the day and night.
     According to Barbara Capone, an Italian scientist living in Austria, she believes solar energy could help relieve Gaza's power problems. "In Europe, such panels have increasingly become widespread and many countries, including Italy, have invested a lot in such installations that are cheap and environmental-friendly," she said. "It is true that the Israeli siege of Gaza continues and would likely hinder delivery of the raw materials for the project, but we are planning to ship the materials through an Egyptian seaport then to Gaza," she explained. "Also, we will make sure that local staff are trained by internationals, even in Gaza itself, so we will avoid delays on maintenance of the panels once they are running. The plant will be made of high-quality Canadian products and will likely be sustained for 25 years."