The good news is that hospitals are among the entities to be exempted from load-shedding under the national State of Disaster regulations promulgated this week by Co-operative Governance & Traditional Affairs Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma.
But, notes MedicalBrief, it may take a while before conditions are met for all hospitals to be spared power cuts. Eskom has warned that it would be technically impossible to isolate and exclude most institutions from load shedding, given how embedded they are in Eskom's transmission and distribution networks. In addition, it has been revealed that dozens of hospitals lack the necessary infrastructure for cable installations and other measures.
The regulations, announced on Tuesday, allow government departments to use emergency procurement procedures to add new energy sources and perform maintenance work on existing electricity infrastructure, reports the Mail & Guardian, but accounting officers will have to report on emergency expenditure to both the Auditor-General and Parliament, this aimed at preventing a repeat of the Covid-19 emergency funding looting that took place during 2020 and 2021.
Ministers will also now have the power to exempt facilities from load shedding, “where technically feasible” – and only if it would not increase the risk of higher load shedding stages, reports News24.
Dlamini-Zuma said Eskom could now import power from neighbouring countries, under the new regulations, while the “wheeling” of electricity to allow third party networks to provide power would also be introduced.
All government departments will also be compelled to introduce electricity-saving measures and to install alternative energy sources at their facilities to ensure their services suffer less interruption.
However, former Eskom CEO André de Ruyter had warned that trying to halt load shedding at all hospitals and other services could trigger a national blackout. In an affidavit after an urgent court bid launched by the United Democratic Movement (UDM), Inkatha Freedom Party, Action SA, the National Union of Metalworkers and other organisations, he had warned that it would put “immense strain” on the system.
Eskom also flagged concerns that hospitals and other institutions which qualify for exemption from load shedding share distribution lines with thousands of other customers.
Last week, Health Minister Joe Phaahla had said that 46 government hospitals buckling under the weight of load shedding would have cables installed to exempt them from rolling blackouts – at a cost of R350m – while solar power and alternative energy sources were also on the drawing board, reports BusinessLIVE.
Intensified power cuts have devastated the already overburdened public health system, including water supply challenges because of non-functioning pumps, and while some progress had been made to ensure hospitals are freed from load shedding, and even with the exemption relief from the new regulations, investigations had revealed that dozens lacked the necessary infrastructure.
"Both Eskom and various municipalities, which are electricity distributors, have said certain infrastructure is needed for cables to bypass where the health facility’s supply is linked with the local supply of residential and business areas,” said Phaala. “They’ve given us a number of hospitals we see as a priority.”
He had acknowledged that fewer than half of the hospitals identified for exemption from load shedding had yet to be spared from blackouts, reports LegalBrief, and said the National Department of Health had originally given Eskom a total of 213 hospitals to be considered for possible exclusion. About 67% are supplied by municipalities while Eskom supplies about 33% of the rest.
The Minister said that in the next financial year “we are looking at using our own infrastructure fund to work with electricity distribution agencies, whether it be Eskom or the local municipalities, to procure the necessary additional cables from our infrastructure grant”.
The Health Department said 46 hospitals countrywide needed cable installation. So far, 76 hospitals have been exempted, and the Ministry said the remainder would receive budget support for generator fuel and maintenance.
In the current financial year, about R260bn is allocated to funding healthcare, 23% being for the national Health Department. Of this, 85% is transferred to the provinces to fund health system priorities via grants.
The Treasury has apportioned another R23.7bn to cover the shortfall in compensation budgets and to improve public health services, but critics have said the extra funds barely scratch the surface of the provinces’ pressure as budgets shrink.
Water pumps
Power outages affect not only lifesaving machinery, electronics and lights in hospitals, but also hamper water pumps during extended periods of blackouts, particularly in Gauteng, and Phaahla said while all hospitals had reservoirs, they can only last for a limited period if water pumps do not function during load shedding.
In the year ahead, he said, the health sector infrastructure grant would be utilised to ensure that where possible underground water could be used to supplement municipal supplies.
“Clinics and community health centres are going to be covered within the solar energy roll-out programme. The national Department of Health in partnership with Council for Scientific & Industrial Research is conducting a due diligence exercise into how best to provide additional power from independent power producers, and the installation of batteries and solar at health facilities,” he said.
Included in the new regulations were:
• Exemptions or expedited approvals for land to be used for energy generation. Also, it allows for access to servitudes on public and private land for Eskom and Eskom group companies to expand the national transmission work.
• Cellphone operators and broadcasters must issue public service announcements on the national state of disaster at no cost to users.
• Expedited recruitment of skilled personnel and appointment of original equipment manufacturers by Eskom.
• Water boards and municipalities must revise the minimum operation levels for reservoirs, increase water treatment and reservoir storage capacity, and water treatment schedules to maximise water treatment while electricity is available.
• Exemption of water boards (or municipalities that are water service authorities) from penalties for exceeding the notified maximum demand during periods of load shedding
News24 article – Ministers now have power to exempt ports, railways and hospitals from load shedding
LegalBrief article – Energy: Not all hospitals exempt from load shedding (Restricted access)
See more from MedicalBrief archives:
Legal action threat as hospitals struggle with load shedding
72 hospitals now exempted from load shedding
Clarion call for hospital load shedding exemption
Bara coughs up R3.4m for generator diesel during 2022 load shedding
Eskom load shedding limiting Gauteng surgery schedules — DA