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The DA in Limpopo has written to Limpopo Health MEC, Phophi Ramathuba, to expedite the process to ensure more hospitals in the province are exempt from power outages in order to save lives.

In a media briefing on the update of the impact of blackouts at hospitals, the national health minister noted four hospitals in the province that are already exempt from power outages. These are simply not enough.

Only exempting tertiary and district hospitals in Limpopo will present a risk to patients because of the province’s longstanding challenges. Transporting patients to other hospitals with electricity is a challenge due to insufficient ambulances and the poor state of roads in Limpopo.

Limpopo Department of Health (LDoH) needs to ensure that as many hospitals as possible, if not all, are exempt from power outages and in cases where it is not possible the department must ensure there are functional generators.

Recently the DA carried out an oversight inspection at Philadelphia Hospital after receiving complaints from hospital staff that the generator had not been working for a week. It was completely dark in the hospital during load-shedding and it had badly affected the operating theatre, ICU, casualty and neonatal unit. Staff indicated that they had resorted to using their own lights.

The LDoH already has over 1575 cases and R14 billion in medical legal cases, and cannot afford to have hospitals that carry out services without electricity or power back up during outages as well as risk lives while transporting critically ill patients to other hospitals.

The DA is committed to ensuring that residents of Limpopo continue to receive healthcare services, even during rolling blackouts.

Issued by Risham Maharaj MPL - DA Limpopo Spokesperson for Health