DENOSA urges heads of hospitals, clinics to ensure generators are working properly during load shedding period 

As Eskom rolls out its scheduled power load shedding nationally today, the Democratic Nursing Organisation of South Africa (DENOSA) would like to urge all CEOs of hospitals and heads of other health institutions throughout the country to ensure that generators at their institutions are serviced and fully functional during this period, so that loss of lives is avoided at all times. 

It is a fact that not all health facilities do put the necessary measures in place. Previous experience teaches that during unannounced power outages, some hospitals are often found with their proverbial pants down as generators fail to kick in, as was the case recently at Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital, which is the biggest hospital in this African region, where health professionals were forced to use their cellphones as a source of light midway through their surgical operation in theatre. 

This unpreparedness leads to further delays in surgical operations, which could lead to unnecessary deaths.

The reason for our call is that complaints and reports of load shedding were received way ahead of the scheduled start of the load shedding this morning at 09h00, and our fear is that health institutions may be affected too.

DENOSA would like to call on its members and communities to save electricity in whichever way possible, so that disruptions of operations at our health facilities are kept to an absolute minimum.

Statement issued by Sibongiseni Delihlazo, DENOSA Communications Manager, March 6 2014

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