Heating Project Opening at Darbas Rural Clinic

On June 10, the USAID-funded Clean Energy and Water Program (CEWP) supported the official opening of the energy efficient heating project completed in the rural clinic of Darbas village. USAID Mission Director Dr. Karen Hilliard attended the event and received a warm welcome by community members. The ceremony began with a traditional welcome of "bread and salt" and flowers given to the Mission Director by village children. Dr. Hilliard and other guests were really touched when one of the girls welcomed them in English. Ms. Hilliard toured the clinic and observed the new solar heating system in operation.

During the ceremony, village mayor Mais Mirzoyan and the chief doctor of the clinic Dr. Anush Nersisyan extended words of deep appreciation to USAID and the American people for supporting their village and stressed the importance of this project for their communities. Dr. Nersisyan mentioned that USAID through its different programs and other international organizations, continue providing invaluable help to their community by renovating the clinic, donating humanitarian aid, materials, medical supplies and training. "Now with this new energy efficient heating system, instead of one room we are able to heat four rooms and provide better healthcare to our patients,"  Dr. Nersisyan said. The Darbas polyclinic today is the only place where nearly 3,000 people from Darbas and 5 other neighboring villages can access primary healthcare. Part of the building was renovated with USAID support in the past and has been well maintained by the staff. However, the lack of heating made operating the clinic very difficult in the cold months. Due to its mountain location, winters in this region are quite severe and the heating season lasts much longer than in other regions. Natural gas is not available in Darbas and electricity is very costly as a heating source for the clinic, which is financed primarily from the community budget. Therefore, the CEWP engineers proposed the idea of installing radiant and solar air heaters in this polyclinic as a low-cost, clean energy solution to addressing the heating issue. The new system uses electricity only as a supplement and is mostly based on clean solar energy.