For anyone who has ever visited a remote health centre in Arunachal Pradesh and found it plunged in darkness — a broken generator, no grid connection, medicines sitting unrefrigerated — this news will feel long overdue.
On Wednesday, September 23, Health and Family Welfare Minister Biyuram Wahge officially launched the state-level rollout of the Energy for Health initiative at the Primary Health Centre (PHC) Itafort in Itanagar. Under this programme, solar power systems will be installed across 393 healthcare centres throughout the state, many of them sitting in remote hills and valleys where reliable electricity has always been a luxury, not a guarantee.
The initiative is being rolled out in partnership with the SELCO Foundation, an organisation that has spent years working at the intersection of clean energy and social equity. Dr. Harish Hande, the Foundation’s Chief Executive Officer, was present at the inauguration and briefed attendees on the programme’s larger vision — and it is, frankly, ambitious.
Commissioner of Health Pawan Kumar Saini and Health Department Secretary Vivek H.P. were also present at the event, signalling that this is not just a ceremonial launch but a serious policy push.
The technical backbone of the programme involves installing decentralised solar photovoltaic systems ranging from 3 kWp to 15 kWp, paired with battery backup systems to keep facilities running even when the sun goes down. That matters enormously in a state where a power cut in the middle of the night is not an inconvenience — it can be a matter of life and death.
Two digital tools were also unveiled alongside the solar initiative. The first is the Saura e-Mitra App, a digital incident management system designed to track and resolve issues at health facilities in real time. The second is a Health Facility and Human Resource Mapping System, a web-based platform that will digitally map every healthcare facility and its staff across Arunachal Pradesh. These are the kind of backend systems that rarely make headlines, but they are exactly what makes or breaks a government programme on the ground.
Minister Wahge also released a photo book titled Energy for Health – Arunachal Pradesh, which documents the journey and intent behind the initiative.
The SELCO Foundation’s Energy for Health programme is part of a much bigger national plan — the organisation aims to power 25,000 public health facilities across 12 states by the end of 2026. The impact is projected to reach over 170 million people and extend direct support to more than 160,000 frontline health workers. The programme has been developed with backing from the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and is partially funded by the IKEA Foundation.
For Arunachal Pradesh — a state of stunning geography but equally stunning infrastructure gaps — reliable power at health centres is not a nice-to-have. It means vaccines can be stored properly. It means doctors can operate without fumbling for torchlight. It means a woman in labour in a remote block does not wait in darkness.
The sun has always shone generously over these hills. It is about time the people living beneath it started benefiting from that light.
