Health minister adds more hospitals to be exempted from load shedding
Durban - The number of hospitals exempt from load shedding has increased to 72. The national Department of Health said initially, 37 hospitals had been exempt.
The department faced scrutiny in the last several weeks, with various voices calling for hospitals to be exempt from load shedding.
The Hospital Association of South Africa highlighted several challenges faced by health facilities during power outages.
The Health Department said multiple institutions in some areas suffer load shedding simultaneously, affecting access to health care in those areas, while also damaging or speeding up the degeneration of equipment.
The department said a preliminary network analysis conducted revealed that 28 hospitals in various provinces can be excluded from load shedding by building new infrastructure at an estimated cost of R100 million.
"More efforts are being made to implement exemption of health facilities in provinces such the Northern Cape and North West as a matter of urgency in line with the commitment made to ensure that no province is left behind," Health Minister Dr Joe Phaahla said in a statement.
He said together with Eskom, the department has made progress in prioritising hospitals.
Phaahla said Director General of Health, Dr Sandile Buthelezi and Eskom Group Executive for Distribution, Monde Bala are working with the authorities of those provinces to find alternative short-to-medium solutions to implement exemption of hospitals.
Facilities on the list include New Bophelong Psychiatric Hospital, Bophelong Hospital, Taung Hospital, Ganyesa Hospital, Moses Kotane Hospital and Tshwaragano Hospital.
"This is despite the technical challenges experienced which include the current electricity configuration of the networks in most areas in which some of the hospitals are found to be deeply embedded within networks, which makes it difficult to immediately isolate them.
“However, the team is investigating possible load curtailment for bigger hospitals as well as other alternative solutions," the minister said.
To date, the department has provided Eskom with a total of 212 priority hospitals across the country to be considered for possible exclusion from load shedding on a phased approach, and 67% of them are supplied directly by municipalities, while Eskom supplies the remaining 33%.
Provinces where hospitals are exempt from load shedding:
Eastern Cape - 7
Free State - 14
Gauteng - 17
KZN - 15
Limpopo - 10
Mpumalanga - 4
Western Cape - 4
Northern Cape - 1
Meanwhile, Stage 3 load shedding will be implemented until 5am on Friday morning. Stage 3 and 2 load shedding will again be implemented continuously from 4pm on Friday until 5am Monday morning.
IOL