High stages of load shedding have also impacted services at Potchefstroom Hospital this past month, when the power was temporarily disrupted due to a faulty generator.

Technicians were called out to the hospital on Thursday, 13 July and the generator was then fixed in approximately two days.

According to Potchefstroom Hospital acting CEO, dr. Michael Shakung, the generator is now in proper working order. The hospital is also in the process of acquiring two new generators to assist with load shedding in the future.

“Every facility is affected by load shedding. We are rendering priority services that needs to be run on a 24-hour basis. We have 1150 kVA generator in place when there is no electricity during load shedding. This generator had a fault like any other mechanical appliance. We had to call technicians to come and fix it and put in a new filter. We have now put measures in place to help with the power switch trips which also affected the power during load shedding,” stated Shakung.

According to Shakung there are critical areas where there needs to be uninterrupted power supply, such as ICU and theatre rooms.

“We make sure that we have extra back up for those areas, so that power supply does not get interrupted.

There is a UPS that is functional for those areas. We are also in the process of procuring two new generators as well for the facility,” added Shakung.

“Every institution will have a problem with generators especially during stage 6 load shedding. We are hoping that the new generators will help to assist during load shedding.”