Cape Town - Health Minister Dr Joe Phaahla says he is engaging with the relevant authorities on the processes to be followed to exempt health facilities from load shedding.
The Health Department said it was in talks with the Minister of Public Enterprises, Eskom and municipalities.
The minister’s comment comes after some health professionals had called for an exemption for health facilities – saying that load shedding was putting people’s lives at risk.
The SA Medical Association expressed concern about the work conditions faced by health-care workers and said load shedding compromised essential emergency operations.
It was also noted by medical professionals that while facilities had generators, millions of rand had to be spent on diesel to operate the generators – funds which could be used for other patients care.
Health Department spokesperson Foster Mohale said: “Minister Phaahla has been concerned for some time with this matter of load shedding with the hope that it improves, but it has got worse to higher levels of 5 and 6.”
Mohale said the minister has ordered the director-general, working with provincial heads of health departments, to finalise the assessment of the impact of load shedding on healthcare services in the past week.
“In addition, the minister has been working on alternative additional sources over and above the generators, which are not meant for prolonged outages, to seek additional supply of power to be considered for installation in the health facilities to complement the generators as part of the energy mix.”
Phaahla is expected to give a comprehensive report on the issue on Friday.
The Health Professions Council of SA (HPCSA) last week said the performance and lifespan of medical equipment and devices at about 420 state-run hospitals and more than 3 000 state-run clinics were being negatively affected by the power interruptions.
“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,” HPCSA president Professor Simon Nemutandani said.
"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.”
“Smaller health-care facilities including primary health-care clinics which are not equipped with generator banks are often left in the dark,” Nemutandani added.
Cape Times