In a hospital, a power outage is never just a technical glitch. A woman who needs to undergo a C-section cannot wait for the power to come back on. An urgent test cannot be interrupted without consequences. Certain medications, such as insulin, must be stored at a controlled temperature to maintain their effectiveness. Yet, in many healthcare facilities in Haiti, our teams still have to deal with this uncertainty on a daily basis.
Electricity must therefore be viewed for what it truly represents in a healthcare facility: an essential condition for the functioning and continuity of care. A ventilator, laboratory equipment, or refrigeration system is only useful if we can guarantee its power supply when the patient needs it.
In Haiti, this issue is closely linked to our reliance on generators. Their operation requires a regular supply of fuel, its transport to the facilities, and accessible roads. When any of these elements is disrupted—as we have unfortunately experienced on several occasions—the consequences can quickly affect clinical services and our ability to ensure continuity of care.
Reducing this dependence is one of Zanmi Lasante’s priorities for the 2026–2027 fiscal year. Developing solar systems involves more than simply installing panels on our buildings. Above all, it is about better securing the energy needed for patient care, while gradually reducing some of the significant costs associated with using generators.
The experience of the Mirebalais University Hospital already gives us a concrete indication of what is possible. Under real-world operating conditions, its solar system has reduced generator fuel consumption by approximately 60%. On the scale of a hospital network like Zanmi Lasante’s, this difference quickly becomes significant.
Today, some of our generators run practically 24 hours a day. In several other facilities, they operate for at least 14 hours a day. In addition to high fuel consumption, there are maintenance costs, repairs, and the more frequent replacement of certain components. In the 2025–2026 fiscal year alone, Zanmi Lasante spent more than 207,000 U.S. dollars on generator maintenance kits.
These figures must guide our decisions. Energy can no longer be viewed solely as an operating expense that we must absorb year after year. We must also approach it as a matter of investment, resilience, and long-term planning.
This requires answering some very concrete questions. What is the actual energy cost for each facility? Which services should we prioritize protecting? What level of solar power and storage capacity truly meets the needs of each site? What level of savings can we achieve over several years? And how can we factor in, from the outset, the maintenance of the systems as well as the future replacement of batteries?
The answer will obviously not be the same everywhere. A hospital with an operating room, a laboratory, and departments operating around the clock does not have the same needs as a smaller health center. Each investment must therefore be based on clinical needs, the site’s actual energy consumption, and the equipment that must remain operational at all times.
This approach requires significant initial investments and rigorous technical planning. But it can enable us to gradually reduce recurring expenses related to fuel and generator wear and tear, while improving the stability and reliability of the power supply at our facilities.
For Zanmi Lasante, it is also a matter of sound resource management. The resources available for healthcare in Haiti are limited, and the needs remain considerable. We must therefore prioritize, whenever possible, investments that can directly improve the quality of care while reducing certain long-term expenses.
Solar energy will certainly not solve all the challenges our facilities face. But it represents an area where we can take concrete action to address a costly dependency that directly affects our ability to provide high-quality, continuous care.
The question, therefore, is no longer simply whether we should invest in solar energy. It is now a matter of determining how to do so methodically, site by site, starting where the clinical and financial impact will be greatest.
This is the work we must now pursue, rigorously and with a long-term perspective.
Wesler Lambert, MD, MPH
Executive Director of Zanmi Lasante