The Minister of Health, Dr Joe Phaahla, is concerned about the impact of load shedding on the public health system and is engaging with the relevant authorities on the processes to be followed in order to exempt health facilities from the power cuts.
THE MINSTER of Health, Dr Joe Phaahla, is concerned about the impact of load shedding on the public health system and is engaging with the relevant authorities on the processes to be followed in order to exempt health facilities from the power cuts.
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 – stating that load shedding was putting people’s lives at risk.
The South African Medical Association said it was concerned about the conditions faced by health-care workers in facilities 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 patient 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 health-care 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 impact and the intervention measures during a media briefing scheduled for Friday.
