Out of more than 200 hospitals in South Africa, just 76 are exempted from Eskom’s power cuts, with Health Minister Joe Phaahla asking Treasury for more money as health budgets buckle under rising fuel costs for generators.
Phaahla said the national Department of Health had given Eskom the names of 213 hospitals that should be considered for possible exclusion from load shedding, reports News24.
"About 67% of those are supplied by municipalities while Eskom supplies about 33% of them. Out of the 213 hospitals, 76 have been exempted – 26 are directly supplied by Eskom and 50 by municipalities,” he said.
Phaahla said seven hospitals in the Eastern Cape were exempted from load shedding, nine in Limpopo, 15 in KwaZulu-Natal, four in Mpumalanga, four in the Western Cape, two in the Northern Cape, three in North West, 14 in the Free State, and 18 in Gauteng.
He said the department was seeking additional funding support for fuel, oil and the servicing of generators.
“Hospitals are being forced to spend their budgets on fuel, oil and medical gas just to keep healthcare facilities running. With persistent stage six load shedding, greater energy demand is placed on generator capability, requiring increased fuel consumption and vast expenditure.”
Funding support was also needed to install dedicated lines for certain key hospitals that are deeply embedded within the Eskom’s or municipal networks, rendering exclusion impossible in their current state as bigger loads are to be exempted.
The department also needs funding for the roll-out of the solar energy and battery storage as back-up supply to all the clinics, hospitals, EMS centres including the forensic laboratories.
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