‘Stop load shedding hospitals,’ HPCSA  asks government

The Health Professions Council of South Africa (HPCSA) has called on government to exempt all hospitals from the intermittent bouts of load shedding.

The council on Friday said hospitals in the country were buckling under pressure due to the various stages of power outages implemented by Eskom, and that this had created more strain on a healthcare system already stretched too thin.

Load shedding

“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.

“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,” the HPCSA said in a statement.

The healthcare practitioners body said health facilities were also platforms used for undergraduate internships and postgraduate training of health professionals, who were also negatively affected by the rolling blackouts.

“More than 80% of South Africans are reliant on public healthcare services, and the implementation stages of load shedding and the lack of a robust contingency plan have proved to be catastrophic in the healthcare environment, with varied and far-reaching consequences.

Health facilities with generators

The HPCSA said there were approximately 420 state-run hospitals and more than 3 000 state-run clinics across the country.

And while private facilities and secondary and tertiary-level public hospitals appeared to be well equipped with generator banks, others were not as fortunate.

“Power supply interruptions place critically ill patients who are dependent on life-support machines at risk.

“The performance and life span of medical equipment and devices are negatively affected by power interruptions. On the other hand, smaller healthcare facilities including primary healthcare clinics which are not equipped with generator banks are often left in the dark.”

Eskom implemented stage 5 load shedding since Monday at midnight, with a possibility of reducing a further stage by Thursday.

Compiled by Thapelo Lekabe

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