IN another 19 months, six health facilities across the island will be able to generate energy from the upgrading of their sewerage system through anaerobic technology developed by the Scientific Research Council (SRC), and funded with a $389-million grant from the National Health Fund (NHF).

The anaerobic technology, which is patented by the SRC, protects the environment because of its low carbon process that contributes to the reduction of greenhouse gas emission and prevents the uncontrolled emission of methane (gas that has no smell) into the atmosphere.

The institutions where the plants will be installed are the Fellowship Health Centre in Portland; Savanna-la-Mar Hospital, Westmoreland; Noel Holmes Hospital and Lucea Health Department, Hanover; Ulster Spring Health Centre, Trelawny; Princess Margaret Hospital, St Thomas; and Percy Junor Hospital, Manchester.

General manager at Marketech, an arm of the SRC, Roslyn Fisher, outlined the benefits that can be derived from the waste-treatment technology.

“It uses waste to generate energy, or ‘cash from trash’. And the process does not require electricity, so you can reduce on power supply sources,” she noted.

“The biogas that is generated from the system can be used for heating purposes, cooking and providing electricity. It is odourless, with little or no maintenance, and it is environmentally-friendly,” Fisher added.

Minister of Science, Technology, Energy, and Mining Phillip Paulwell, who spoke at the recent launch of the project at the Percy Junor Hospital, said the collaboration of the SRC, which is an agency of his ministry, with the Ministry of Health, must be seen as a practical “demonstration of cost-effective application of technology to add value to the lives of people”.

He said that the energy from the system should be utilised in the running of the health facilities, which will result in savings.

To date, the SRC has commissioned some 500 wastewater treatment systems, inclusive of biodigesters across the island, at the residential and commercial levels. The ministry has a clear policy on utilising waste for productive purposes, such as energy generation.

For his part, Minister of Health Dr Fenton Ferguson said that the project was historic and the scientific aspect of it is part of measures that must be embarked on for all aspects of institutional development.

“These are strategic decisions that we are taking, and we believe that it is a most important project. When we move from this phase we will move to phase two, taking on six additional hospitals. This is going to continue a process that is far-reaching,” he said.

While noting that part of the mandate of the National Health Fund is to facilitate well-equipped health facilities, Chief Executive Officer Everton Anderson said: “We consider the sum that we have allotted for this project as a keen demonstration of our dedication to achieve quality health care.

“The proper disposal and management of sewage is an important part of environmental management, and the National Health Fund is only happy to play a part in upgrading the plants at the six health facilities,” Anderson noted.

General manager at the SRC, Roslyn Fisher, said that the health facilities, at the end of the project, “will have a fully functioning wastewater treatment system.

“We will have a cost-effective environmentally-friendly system for the health sector,” Fisher said.

— JIS