Seven local health facilities exempted from load-shedding
“We have made it clear to Eskom that our health facilities will use electricity sparingly, productively and purposefully at all times.”
Seven health facilities in Tshwane will be exempted from Eskom load-shedding soon.
Health department spokesperson Foster Mohale said these are Steve Biko Academic, George Mukhari, Pretoria West, Tshwane District, Mamelodi, Bronkhorstspruit and Kalafong hospitals and more would be added to this list soon.
“The exemptions do not, however, mean the facilities should use electricity without limitations,” said health minister Joe Phaahla.
Phaahla said this came about after provincial departments submitted lists of facilities to be exempted.
He said that hospitals in urban areas connected to municipal power supply and those in rural areas to Eskom’s.
The hospitals’ location would determine the technical aspects of how they would be spared load-shedding.
The facilities receiving their power directly from Eskom, would directly be exempt while those connected to the municipality, would need a dedicated feeder line that kicks in to keep the power on during load-shedding.
Criteria for hospital exclusion included patient volume, nature of specialised services provided and technological and medical equipment.
These are mostly academic, regional and district hospitals.
“We have made it clear to Eskom that our health facilities will use electricity sparingly, productively and purposefully at all times,” said Phaahla adding that provincial health departments countrywide would soon meet with Eskom to discuss logistics.
“The meeting will determine the costs for additional resources for network reconfiguration.”
Phaahla said the department was further engaging National Treasury to discuss additional budget implications to sustain other load-shedding contingency plans such as an unbudgeted increase in diesel expenditure to run generators.
He said the government was also conducting a feasibility study to determine if alternative energy sources such as solar and wind could be used in health facilities.
“We are considering renewable energy through solar power installation at health facilities as part of an energy mix.”
Phaahla said the plan would be implemented as soon as a budget was made available.
He said solar energy would be prioritised for theatres, ICUs, and high-tech as well as advanced equipment.
He added that an installation of uninterrupted power supply (UPS) technology at all facilities for data protection was also needed.
“Load-shedding means that we must revise our plans and costs to include new sources of energy over and above generators when we build new facilities.”
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