GENERATOR FAILS AT JOBURG HOSPITAL

An inquiry is needed as to why a generator failed yesterday when Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Academic Hospital suffered a power failure.

Four of the hospital's five generators kicked in at 2.45 pm yesterday (Wednesday 19 December) when there was an electricity cut, but there was no emergency power at Block One of the hospital.

This affected the neonatal, maternity and casualty departments. Emergency operations were transferred to the main theatres which had power.

Hospital staff reacted well to alleviate the effect of the power cut that lasted more than two hours, but were let down by the malfunctioning generator in Block One.

The generators are supposed to be tested regularly and maintained by the Gauteng Infrastructure Development Department.

Generators have also failed this year at the Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital. A contractor apologised for the generator failure, but this is not good enough.

There must be accountability and measures to ensure that all generators function all the time when needed.

Statement issued by Jack Bloom MPL, DA Gauteng Health Spokesman, December 20 2012

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