Sustainable Health Innovation for Global Health Equity: Solar-Powered MRI for Affordable Healthcare in Resource-Limited Settings
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Introduction
Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is central to neurological care, yet access remains profoundly inequitable in low- and middle-income countries, especially in rural health facilities where high costs and fragile electricity supply limit services. Ultra-low-field (ULF) portable MRI offers a way to expand access, but deployment in weak-grid settings requires robust affordable power. We characterized the power needs of a 0.064T portable ULF MRI system and assessed the feasibility of a solar-powered MRI-capable facility in a rural Zimbabwean clinic, which we believe to be the first of its kind in the world.
Methods
We measured the power draw of an ultra-low-field MRI session from a portable photovoltaic (PV) battery kit in the UK, quantifying scan, standby and energy use. We then monitored a PV-battery micro-grid supplying a protected circuit at an MRI-capable clinic in Shurugwi, Zimbabwe. Inverter telemetry was used to derive PV generation, load, battery state of charge (SoC) and grid import for working days in October-November 2025, spanning the end of the dry season and onset of the rainy season.
Results
In the portable configuration, a 64-minute MRI session consumed approximately 0.21 kWh, with standby demand of approximately 1.44 kWh per 24 hours. In clinic, mean PV generation was 9.10 kWh (SD = 1.34) and load 6.91 kWh, with zero recorded grid import and minimum daily SoC typically greater than or equal to 60%, including during the early rainy season.
Conclusion
An affordable PV-battery micro-grid can reliably support ULF MRI and associated research power loads in a rural, weak-grid clinic, offering a reproducible blueprint to narrow diagnostic equity gaps in resource-limited settings.
