This follows the DA’s disclosure that 248 public clinics in Gauteng do not have generators to cope with power failures. DA Gauteng shadow MEC for Health Jack Bloom, said this was revealed by Gauteng Health MEC Qedani Mahlangu in a written reply to his questions in the Gauteng Legislature. Bloom stated that according to Mahlangu, 34 public hospitals have generator backup provided by 128 generators, of which eight are not working.
“All the community health centres have generators and 70 clinics have generators as well. A total of 65 clinics will receive generators in the current financial year, and 183 clinics in the next three years. This bombshell information shows how exposed our primary health services are to power failures,” Bloom said.
He added that very little can function in a clinic without electricity and medicines can spoil in fridges. Furthermore, Bloom said the rollout of generators to clinics needs to be sped up because electricity failures are an ever-present hazard as Eskom struggles to provide a reliable electricity supply.
Meanwhile, the department’s spokesperson, Vuyo Sabani, said currently all hospitals have backup generators in case of power cuts. Sabani said the same applies to all their 24-hour community health centres.
“Furthermore, 70 clinics have generators to supply power during an electricity blackout. We plan to procure generators for 65 clinics in the current financial year. In the 2015 medium-term expenditure framework [three-year] period we will procure over 183 generators for various clinics,” Sabani stated.
Details: Jack Bloom 082 333 4222.
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