Cape Town - Health Minister Joe Phaahla’s recent announcement that his department had met with Eskom management to discuss a plan to exempt healthcare facilities from power blackouts, is another example of reactionary leadership by our government.
It is also a case of too little, too late.
Phaahla said on Friday that his department was also working with provinces to draft a list of facilities to be exempted. This was seemingly aimed at helping the failing management of the embattled power utility, led by CEO André de Ruyter, deal with the matter speedily.
This intervention will undoubtedly go a long way in helping ease the burden faced by our hospitals and clinics.
However, the fact that it’s only happening now when much of the damage has been done, is a problem.
Some patients on life support machines have lost their lives due to load shedding. Others couldn’t be operated on, while poorly funded hospitals have been forced to spend their stretched operational budgets on diesel to keep the electricity flowing.
The Health Professions Council of South Africa (HPCSA) has said that “health-care practitioners in hospitals are unable to perform emergency surgeries timeously because of load shedding, and this has put the lives of the patients at risk”.
The Limpopo Department of Health also raised concerns about the impact of power outages on the water supply at hospitals and clinics.
For his part, Phaahla promised to roll out an energy mix, which included solar and renewable energy, by April next year.
“In addition, the minister has been working on alternative additional sources over and above the generators, which are not meant for prolonged outages, to seek an additional supply of power to be considered for installation in the health facilities to complement the generators as part of the energy mix,” said Phaahla’s spokesperson, Foster Mohale.
This begs the question: Why was this not done all along? It is common cause that Eskom has been battling to provide secure energy since load shedding started in 2008.
It’s an unacceptable case of reactive leadership that Phaahla and his fellow government colleagues displayed in their handling of the crisis.
Cape Times