Mumbai: Medicine knows no frontiers, as demonstrated by the international humanitarian organisation Doctors Without Borders.
And, hopefully, it will not face power constraints either, for Mumbai’s first dispensary, which is operating from four modified shipping containers at Sewri Koliwada, is powered by solar panels.
The BMC has installed 15 solar panels on four containers, generating 24 units of electricity per day, and hopes to save Rs 48,000 to Rs 60,000 per annum on electricity.
Strapped for space, the BMC opened the dispensary by the fusion of four modified containers at Sewri-Koliwada in August 2021. Now known as the ‘Balasaheb Thackeray’ dispensary, it was opened under the ‘My Family, My Responsibility initiative’, to cater to about 32,000 people in the area.
Functioning as a primary health centre, this dispensary also assists patients in the diagnosis of tuberculosis and other ailments. There is a doctor on site and an examination room.
The dispensary has four airconditioners, 16 tubelights, eight fans, one refrigerator and two computers. Earlier, the BEST supplied power to keep these devices running and the BMC incurred expenses of Rs 4,000-5,000 per month in electricity bills.
To ease this financial burden, 15 solar panels were installed, which generate 6kWp (kilowatt peak) per day. Each day, 24 units (720 units of electricity per month) are generated, sufficient to run all the devices in the dispensary, said former corporator Sachin Padwal.
