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UAE solar project helps rural Indians avoid up to 60km of travel for health checks
Individual health facilities have also allocated maintenance funds, with money previously spent on diesel and electricity bills redirected towards maintaining the solar systems
- PUBLISHED: Mon 10 Aug 2026, 2:20 PM
More than 5,000 women in rural India have received antenatal screening closer to home through a UAE-backed healthcare initiative, with documented cases showing patients avoided an estimated 55km to 60km of travel for each screening.
The programme is part of Beyond2020, the flagship initiative of the UAE's Zayed Sustainability Prize, and was implemented in India by SELCO Foundation, a 2018 Zayed Sustainability Prize winner.
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According to Dr Harish Hande, CEO of SELCO Foundation, the programme has enabled rural health facilities to provide a wider range of diagnostic, maternal, neonatal and emergency services.
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Through the solar-powered AnandiMaa maternal and child health kits, the screening could be carried out at the community level in about 15 to 20 minutes per patient, while also helping health workers identify conditions requiring referral earlier.
In one example, health workers were able to identify abnormal fetal heart-rate patterns and escalate them for review by gynaecologists in real time. The programme also supported the use of non-stress testing, with health staff ensuring at least one such test for mothers in their third trimester who attended for antenatal care.
AI-assisted screening
An AI-assisted cardiac screening intervention identified multiple cardiac murmurs and was estimated to have avoided thousands of potential referral journeys, with around 57km of travel potentially avoided per patient. Some facilities also recorded a 100 per cent increase in daily outpatient visits and an approximately 50 per cent rise in monthly vaccinations after reliable power and new equipment were introduced.
Reliable electricity also helped prevent vaccines from being spoiled during power interruptions and allowed essential equipment and lighting to remain operational during night-time deliveries and emergencies.
Dr Hande said the experience had highlighted that technology alone does not create a healthcare service.
“A digital microscope, for instance, can capture and transmit images, but this only becomes telepathology if there is also a pathologist, connectivity and an established referral/consultation pathway.”
The programme has therefore shifted towards what it describes as a whole-care-pathway approach, bringing together energy systems, medical equipment, the built environment, staff workflows, training, connectivity, maintenance and referral systems.
At Aradeshahalli, for example, solar power was combined with point-of-care diagnostics, an AI stethoscope, maternal-health kits, a baby warmer, suction equipment and digital labour-monitoring technology.
The project has also put systems in place to keep the facilities operational after installation. Solar systems are remotely monitored, with faults converted into service tickets and tracked through service-level agreements, while preventive maintenance, vendor support and staff training are built into the model.
Individual health facilities have also allocated maintenance funds from their own budgets, with money previously spent on diesel and electricity bills redirected towards maintaining the solar systems.
Dr Hande said the model could be adapted for other countries facing similar last-mile healthcare and energy challenges, with Africa offering significant potential because of its remote communities, long distances to higher-level care and unreliable electricity in some areas.
However, he stressed that the model is not simply about replicating the same solar or medical technology everywhere.
“The transferable element is the methodology; start with the health needs of the facility and its community, understand the services and equipment required, design the energy system around those needs, integrate the built environment and technology, and build the institutional and O&M systems required to sustain it.”
The India deployment is one of 19 Beyond2020 projects across energy, health, water and food-related solutions, with the initiative having reached more than 429,800 people across 19 countries, according to the Zayed Sustainability Prize. Colombia has been identified for its 20th deployment.
