Joburg Water issues see Helen Joseph Hospital’s taps run dry

For at least three days – Saturday, Sunday and Monday – the Helen Joseph Hospital in Auckland Park has had no water.

Chief executive Dr Relebohile Ncha confirmed the hospital had experienced water interruptions, a result of a reduced supply from Johannesburg Water.

“They reported their challenges and worked on the challenges. To circumvent this problem, Joburg Water brought water tanks to the hospital to assist with filling our tanks,” she said.

Ncha said not all areas of the hospital were affected. “We have a borehole that covers certain areas within the hospital. Some wards were affected, especially the wards on the seventh floor. Services continued at the hospital, despite this challenge. We are continuously working with Joburg Water to ensure the water supply is adequate,” she said.

ALSO READ: Emalahleni is failing to provide clean drinking water to 500 000 people

Members of society raised their concerns on Twitter. Pat Willers tweeted: “@enca, @JackBloomDA, please check Helen Joseph Hospital. NO WATER. This is unacceptable. Filthy dirty.”

South African Small and Medium Enterprise Association CEO John Lotter tweeted: “In all good conscience I can no longer vote for the ANC. My son is recovering. Bleeding stroke at Helen Joseph public hospital in Johannesburg. No water. No shower, staff morale low, security guards like prison guards, placing Mark and his family under additional stress. What about all the other patients? I am calling on all platforms to intervene.”

Democratic Alliance Gauteng shadow health MEC Jack Bloom said the area around the Helen Joseph Hospital had had water problems for the “longest time” and electricity disruptions had made things worse.

“The electricity also disrupts the water supply and I don’t think their borehole is sufficient,” he said. Bloom said the real problem was the hospital did not have contingency plans.

“Helen Joseph Hospital is vulnerable to water shocks and the electricity compounds it when there are big outages. It causes water problems,” he said

“You would have thought they would have learned from the situation before when Gift of the Givers had to dig a borehole, but they simply have not. I am just worried about all our hospitals not having sufficient disaster planning.”

‘There is no backup’

With Eskom’s continued rolling blackouts, the South African Medical Association (Sama) has called on government to spare hospitals from scheduled power cuts, warning vulnerable patients were at risk. Sama chair Dr Mvuyisi Mzukwa said there was a possibility of hospital generators failing.

“We are very concerned about hospitals experiencing load shedding. It has huge implications in terms of emergency operations. The problem is the generators in the hospitals are not functional and at times they do not kick in, or they take time,” he said

“There is no backup. This also affects the children hospitalised, like the premature babies who need incubation. They need electricity. If we don’t have that, those babies may die.”

ALSO READ: ‘This is the Eskom we inherited’, says Gordhan as Steenhuisen calls for ‘state of disaster’ to be declared

Minister of Health Dr Joe Phaahla has ordered the director-general working with provincial heads of health departments to finalise the assessment of the impact in the past week.

National health department spokesperson Foster Mohale said Phaahla had been engaging with relevant authorities and entities on the processes to be followed in order to exempt health facilities from load shedding.