Health Minister Joe Phaahla is speaking to Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan, as well as Eskom and municipalities, about exempting health facilities from load shedding.
The Department of Health said yesterday that Phaahla has been concerned for some time about the impact of load shedding on the operation of health facilities, hoping the situation might improve.
However, load shedding had gotten worse, rising to stages five and six, and hampering the provision of health care services across the country.
As a result, the minister had ordered the department’s director-general Sandile Buthelezi, working with provincial heads of health departments, to finalise an assessment of the impact of the powercuts.
The department said that in the meanwhile, Phaahla has been engaging with the relevant authorities and entities, including Gordhan, Eskom and municipalities, on the processes to be followed in order to exempt health facilities from load shedding.
“In addition, the minister has been working on alternative additional sources – over and above generators, which are not meant for prolonged outages – of power to be considered for installation in health facilities to complement generators as part of the energy mix,” said department spokesperson Foster Mohale.
Last week, the Health Professions Council of South Africa (HPCSA) said hospitals in the country were buckling under pressure as a result of load shedding and the various stages of power outages.
“This has created more strain on the already far-stretched healthcare system. Load shedding has negatively impacted the provision of quality care in all our health facilities and placed an enormous strain on the health practitioners on their daily routine of work,” said HPCSA president Simon Nemutandani.
“Healthcare practitioners in the hospitals are unable to perform emergency surgeries timeously because of load shedding and this has put the lives of the patients at risk. These health facilities are also platforms used for undergraduates internships and postgraduate training of health professionals, who are also negatively affected by load shedding.”
The council said more than 80% of South Africans are reliant on public healthcare services. The implementation of load shedding and the lack of a robust contingency plan had proved catastrophic in the healthcare environment.
There are about 420 state-run hospitals and more than 3 000 state-run clinics across the country, while private facilities and secondary and tertiary-level public hospitals appear to be well equipped with generator banks.
The HPCSA called for all hospitals, clinics and other health facilities to be exempt from load shedding.
“Power supply interruptions place critically ill patients who are dependent on life-support machines at risk. The performance and life span of medical equipment and devices are negatively affected by power interruptions. On the other hand, smaller healthcare facilities, including primary healthcare clinics, which are not equipped with generator banks, are often left in the dark,” Nemutandani added.
Phaahla is expected to give a comprehensive report on the impact and intervention measures at a media briefing on Friday.
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