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Loadshedding’s effect on hospitals can’t be underestimated
BY SINAZO MKOKO
Health department doing its best to save lives
Eskom’s struggle to keep the lights on across the country is continuing. As South Africa is grappling with the effects of loadshedding, the hospitals have pleaded with the power utility to exclude them from stage 5 and stage 6 of loadshedding.
An online petition calling for hospitals to be exempt from loadshedding was started by the Head of Internal Medicine at Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Academic Hospital (CMJAH), Professor Adam Mohamed.
Prof Mohamed said that loadshedding continues to put a strain on both hospital equipment (which is ageing and in short supply) and the well-being of patients. He said due to this challenge, emergency surgeries cannot be performed conveniently.
“I’ve started this petition to the Gauteng Provincial Government and relevant departments calling on them to exempt all hospitals in Gauteng from loadshedding.
In the Western Cape province, hospitals are already exempt from loadshedding, surely the same must follow for hospitals in every province - including Gauteng,” he stated in his petition.
Prof Mohamed added that uPS (uninterrupted power supply) batteries in Neonatal Care Wards and other intensive care units (ICus) do not have enough time to recharge between power cuts during loadshedding, which could lead to fatalities in infants and the most vulnerable of patients. “Even where hospitals do have generators they cannot power the entire hospital so outpatients for example, who sit in an area that is not considered an emergency area, will sit in total darkness requiring healthcare professionals to use their cellphone torches in order to examine them [sic],” he said.
“During loadshedding, a hospital like Charlotte Maxeke burns through between 800 and 900 litres of diesel a day. This translates into an expenditure of between R5-million and R8-million a month - which all comes out of the provincial health budget. This means that there is R5-million to R8-million less to spend on patient care.”
The South African Medical Association (SAMA) also appealed to the government to grant healthcare facilities exemptions to Eskom’s rolling blackouts, warning that vulnerable people going into surgery or in ICU could face serious complications because of loadshedding.
Speaking at a virtual media briefing on Friday, September 30, Health Minister, Dr Joe Phaahla, admitted that the impact of loadshedding on the provision of healthcare services cannot be underestimated or overemphasised and the department would do its best to save lives. “We have noted and appreciated calls made by various organisations, including the healthcare workers who called for exemption of health facilities to mitigate the current impact of loadshedding on the effective functioning of health facilities to save lives.
“Loadshedding is a risk to the efforts to deliver on our Constitutional mandate of protecting, promoting and maintaining the health, safety and well-being of patients and the public by ensuring quality pharmaceutical service for all SouthAfricans,” he said.
He went on to say that while most public health facilities have a back-up power supply system which includes generators and uPSs, these alternative sources of energy were “not designed to provide back-up electricity for a longer period of time” as some of the equipment is old and others have no necessary capacity to power the entire facility.
“Thus, generators have been proven not to adequately meet the increasing demands during loadshedding in health facilities, hence some hospitals are left without a choice, but forced to switch off some critical areas, which now compromise patient care. That is why provinces like Limpopo have resorted to put elective surgeries on hold until further notice.
“These persistent power outages are significantly contributing to reduced lifespan of some of the critical medical machinery and equipment, including the same backup generators. Again, these unpredictable prolonged power outages which are at higher stages of loadshedding pose a threat to thesafety and efficacy of variousmedications and vaccines whichneed to be stored within specifictemperature,” said Minister Phaahla.
INTERVENTION MEASURES
Minister Phaahla added that they are engaging relevant authorities and entities involved in the power supply and loadshedding to deal with the challenge.
“We can safely report that there is progress to exclude hospitals and other healthcare facilities across the country from loadshedding, and this is work-in-progress done between the Department, Eskom and Municipalities.” “The department is further engaging the National Treasury to discuss the additional budget implications to sustain the loadshedding contingency plans, including unbudgeted increase in diesel and oil expenditure to run the generators and maintenance costs.
“We are also considering the phased approach investment in renewable energy through solar power installation at health facilities as part of energy mix. This will need a feasibility study before we commence with the critical health facilities per province based on budget availability.
Solarised energy will be prioritised for areas such as theatres, Intensive Care units, High-Tech and advanced equipment,” he said.
NEW ESKOM BOARD
On Friday, September 30, the Minister of Public Enterprises, Honourable Pravin Gordhan announced the new members of the Eskom Board.
In a statement released by the department, the Minister said the Board members bring broad experience, expertise and skills that will provide stability and strategic direction to the entity. Their task will be to reposition Eskom to play a key role in the energy sector.
They said: “The Minister would like the incoming Board to deal with immediate current loadshedding issues, procurement, elimination of corruption and ensuring that there is reliability of energy supply in the medium to long term. The Minister would like to thank the previous Board members for their work and wishes the new Board well during their tenure.”
