Categories: Health

Steve Biko hospital ICU, operating theatres hit by power outages

One week after Steve Biko Academic Hospital was plunged into darkness twice in one day, and answers to the outages remain a mystery.

Pretoria Rekord reports lights going off while surgeries were being performed after mid-morning and late evening power disruptions  on Tuesday last week.

Healthcare workers had to use lights from cellphones to attend to patients during the outages.

Advertisement

The first one lasted several hours, while the evening blackout lasted around one hour.

ALSO READ: Oversight visit reveals dismal state of Charlotte Maxeke, Chris Hani Baragwanath hospitals

The power outages were confirmed to Pretoria Rekord by Gauteng health department spokesperson Kwara Kekana, who said the intensive care unit and operating theatres were also affected.

Advertisement

Some parts of the hospital had power when the blackouts occurred, but other sections had to wait some time before being lit up.

Kekana said however that the outages did not cause any harm to human life, and that all planned surgeries were postponed.

Hospital management has not yet been able to pinpoint the cause of the outage, as the hospital does have generators in case of a power failure.

Advertisement

No further explanation as to why only parts of the hospital were plunged into darkness was offered.

For example, one patient who was on oxygen did not have their supply disturbed during the outage.

But others said they were served cold food due to the blackouts, something Kekana said hospital management was not aware of.

Advertisement

She said despite the outages, the hospital continued to provide “quality care”.

NOW READ: 205 Steve Biko hospital patients awaiting surgeries since 2010

Edited by Nica Richards.

Advertisement

This article first appeared on Caxton publication Pretoria Rekord, by Sinesipho Schrieber. Read the original article here.

For more news your way

Download our app and read this and other great stories on the move. Available for Android and iOS.

Published by
By Citizen Reporter
Read more on these topics: Rolling blackoutsSteve Biko Hospital