Full list: 37 out of over 300 hospitals exempted from rolling blackouts

October 1, 2022

Thirty-seven hospitals across the country have been exempted from power outages. Health Minister Dr Joe Phaahla announced on Friday while giving an update on the impact of rolling blackouts on the country’s public health facilities.

The following are health facilities exempted as of this week, while others are being considered for exemption soon, as the engagements with Eskom and municipalities continue:

Gauteng:

  1. Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Academic Hospital
  2. Helen Joseph Hospital
  3. Steve Biko Academic Hospital
  4. George Mukhari Academic Hospital
  5. Pretoria West Hospital
  6. Tshwane District Hospital
  7. Mamelodi Hospital
  8. Bronkhorstspruit Hospital
  9. Kalafong Provincial Tertiary Hospital
  10. Mandela Children’s Hospital

Free State:

  1. Pelonomi Academic Hospital

KwaZulu-Natal

  1. Harry Gwala Regional Hospital (former Edendale)
  2. Grey’s Hospital
  3. Ladysmith Hospital
  4. Prince Mshiyeni Memorial Hospital
  5. RK Khan Hospital
  6. Inkosi Albert Luthuli Central Hospital
  7. McCord Hospital
  8. King Dinizulu Hospital
  9. Mahatma Gandhi Memorial Hospital
  10. Osindisweni Hospital
  11. St Aidan’s Hospital
  12. Addington Hospital
  13. Clairwood Hospital

Limpopo:

  1. Mankweng Hospital
  2. Lebowakgomo Hospital
  3. Dilokong Hospital
  4. Mecklenburg Hospital

Eastern Cape:

  1. Frere Provincial Hospital
  2. Elliot Hospital
  3. Livingstone Hospital
  4. Port Elizabeth Provincial Hospital
  5. Uitenhage Provincial Hospital

Western Cape:

  1. Tygerberg Hospital
  2. Groote Schuur Hospital
  3. Red Cross War Memorial Children’s Hospital

Northern Cape: Three names submitted, waiting for a response from Eskom

Mpumalanga: Awaiting response on Witbank and Rob Ferreira hospitals, which are on the priority list.

During the week, Dr Phaahla ordered the director-general working with provincial heads of health departments to finalise the assessment of the impact of load shedding in the past week. He also engaged with other relevant authorities and entities, including Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan’s office,  Eskom and municipalities on the processes to be followed to exempt health facilities from power outages.

Dr Phaahla said:

The number of hospitals exempted from load shedding is still a drop in the ocean, especially because there are over 300 public hospitals. But in the next seven days, we are hoping to bring on board more hospitals. In the meantime, only major hospitals are exempted from load shedding.

Dr Phaahla said although the majority of public health facilities had backup power supply systems, which included generators, these sources of energy were not designed to provide backup electricity for an extended period.

“Some of these generators are old, while others cannot power the entire facility. As a result, a lot of equipment is at risk. Generators have been proven not to adequately meet the increasing demands during load shedding, hence, some hospitals are left without a choice but forced to switch off some critical areas, which now compromise patient care. That is why provinces such as Limpopo have resorted to elective surgeries being on hold until further notice,” Dr Phaahla detailed.

READ: Rolling blackouts affect water supply at health facilities

He said he had also been working on alternative additional power sources over and above the generators.

Dr Phaahla added provincial health departments had been urged to consolidate their lists of facilities for submission in the follow-up meeting next week with Eskom instead of individual facilities doing requests, as these would assist the teams to determine the cost of additional resources for network reconfiguration.

READ: Prof pens petition calling for hospitals to be exempt from rolling blackouts

“The criteria for hospital exclusion include patient volumes, the nature of specialised services they provide and technological and medical equipment they have. These are mostly academic, regional and district hospitals. The exclusions or exemptions do not mean the facilities should use electricity without limitations. We have made it clear to Eskom that we have joined their call to ensure that even our health facilities use electricity sparingly, productively and purposefully at all times.”

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