Many residents feared for the lives at Madadeni Provincial Hospital, when the town was hit by ‘sudden’ load-shedding  on December 6. Panic quickly set in as claims of lives lost circulated on social media, with residents alleging it was due to the load-shedding, which also affected, at the hospital.

The allegations were soon dismissed by the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Health (DOH) Spokesperson, Agiza Hlongwane:

“Let’s stop spreading false information, because it is misleading to the public at large and causes unnecessary panic. We dealt with the matter as it happened. Yes, there was load-shedding and the generator did not kick in as expected, but no one died even though lives were at risk. The machines at the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) and the High Care Unit have backup batteries, which kept machines working during the load-shedding period. The only reason the generator did not kick in was due to a faulty pump that led to difficulties with the supply of diesel to power the generator. Generally, generators are inspected for functionality on a weekly basis, which is the hospital’s standard practice.”

Hlongwane further stated that technical teams were immediately called in:

“When the situation arose, the maintenance team was summoned to the site in the early hours. They managed to identify the problem within minutes of assessment and the generator started working again. We are thankful to the staff who were on duty and made sure no one’s life was put at risk. We also thank the CEO, who rushed to the hospital to make sure everything was attended to. These are public hospitals; if anyone is not happy about anything, they are encouraged to follow the necessary procedures to report cases. You can approach hospital management or the Newcastle DOH Amajuba District Office. If we must criticise, let us do so without destroying.”

Meanwhile, Eskom issued a statement yesterday (December 12):

“As stated in the power alert issued last night (December 11), Stage 2 rotational load-shedding will be implemented from 09:00 this morning until 23:00 tonight as a result of a shortage of capacity, with a number of generating units still out of service due to breakdowns. The system’s improvement is largely as a result of several units being returned to service. Breakdowns (UCLF) are at 12 900MW as at 08:30 this morning.”

Eskom customers can check their load-shedding schedules on Eskom’s website (https://loadshedding.eskom.co.za ) or they can contact the customer centre on 086 003 7566.

ALSO READ: Furious residents rage at Madadeni Hospital service

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