Cape Town — The Western Cape health department revealed they have spent R12m in the last three months on over 200 healthcare facilities who were not exempt from load shedding.
According to TimesLIVE, head of health Keith Cloete said that in June alone, the department spent more than R5m in June alone, which was not in the department budget.
“Diesel availability and cost have been the biggest concern for us. From April 1 to June 30 we spent R12m just on diesel. While the money being spent on mitigating the impacts of load-shedding could have been used elsewhere, we cannot allow patients to suffer the consequences when seeking healthcare services,” Cloete said during premier Alan Winde’s energy digicon this week.
To resolve the energy crisis facing public hospitals, the department says it’s also in discussions with Eskom to install a dedicated feeder for the Khayelitsha District Hospital at a cost of R1.5m to have it exempted from power cuts and join 10 other hospitals already exempted.
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According to News24, 10 hospitals were exempt from load shedding up to Stage 6, while generators have been put in place for 200 facilities who were not exempt.
“We cannot allow patients to suffer the consequences when seeking healthcare services. This, once again, is an indication of how the Western Cape is going above and beyond its mandate,” he said.
Previously, the department had requested that Eskom exempt the Khayelitsha Hospital. There had also been a request for 10 healthcare facilities, including George, Worcester, Paarl, Caledon, Vredendal, Eerste River, Oudshoorn, Ceres and Beaufort West, to be exempt.
The digicon also focused on mounting concerns about Eskom’s Koeberg power station refurbishment, which faces further delays, and could result in both units being offline.
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Compiled by Matthew Petersen
