Cape Town - The Department of Health and Wellness has formed a task team with ailing power utility Eskom to better shield health facilities from the effects of load shedding.
The extended bouts of load shedding led Health MEC Nomafrench Mbombo to request a meeting with Eskom’s Cape Coastal Cluster.
Afterwards, Mbombo said a decision was taken to establish a task team, with regular meetings to be held to find solutions to protect health-care facilities from load shedding.
To date, 10 hospitals – Tygerberg, Groote Schuur, Red Cross War Memorial Children’s, New Somerset, Mitchells Plain, Karl Bremer, Victoria, Mowbray Maternity, Wesfleur and George – are exempted from load shedding through negotiations with Eskom and the City of Cape Town.
“Additionally, False Bay Hospital and Helderberg Hospital Oral Health Centre are currently under investigation in priority order for exemption from the City of Cape Town grid.
“Similarly, Khayelitsha Hospital, Eerste River Hospital, Beaufort West Hospital, Caledon Hospital, Ceres Hospital, Oudtshoorn Hospital, Paarl Hospital, Vredendal Hospital and Worcester Hospital are currently under investigation in priority order for exemption from the Eskom grid,” Mbombo said.
Eskom is also in the process of designing plans to provide a direct line of power supply to Khayelitsha and Eerste River hospitals, excluding these hospitals from the grid and to be funded by the department.
Many 24-hour facilities were fitted with generators designed to run for a short period. Around R5 to R8 million is spent on diesel a month for generators. “The department has had to spend more on diesel and spare parts for maintenance as the increased usage has accelerated wear and tear,” Mbombo said.
The department will install inverters at all rural primary health-care facilities and solar panels at 15 hospitals.
Democratic Nursing Organisation of South Africa spokesperson Sibongiseni Delihlazo said they appreciated the efforts made by the Western Cape government.
He said power outages were still making the lives of healthcare workers “a living hell”.
“When a power outage occurs in a health-care facility, including the maternity section, the whole unit will be dark while they’re busy.
“Now some of them would be forced to use their cellphones, for instance, just to ensure the procedure they were busy with gets completed and as far and as safely as possible.”