Cape Town - Five additional hospitals in the Western Cape have been exempted from load shedding.
This brings the total number of hospitals protected in the province to eight.
In a statement on Thursday, the provincial health department said the move followed a briefing last Friday by health and wellness MEC Dr Nomafrench Mbombo, who said that the national government had “left the Western Cape behind” and called on them and all other stakeholders to exempt more hospitals in the province.
“Since then, the City of Cape Town and Eskom have made progress in exempting more hospitals,” the department said.
Tygerberg, Groote Schuur and Red Cross War Memorial Children’s Hospital were already exempted prior to the request for the additional hospitals.
Additional hospitals now exempted on City of Cape Town grid:
- New Somerset Hospital
- Mitchells Plain Hospital
- Karl Bremer Hospital
- Victoria Hospital
Additional hospital exempted on the Eskom grid:
- George Hospital
“We welcome the support shown by our electricity providers in exempting some additional hospitals from load shedding. Our staff at these hospitals can now continue providing quality health care without the worry of load shedding, especially in theatres and emergency centres. We continue to work collaboratively with the City of Cape Town and Eskom towards a safer, uninterrupted power-supplied clinical setting in all our hospitals where our staff are required to save lives and provide the best possible care,” Mbombo said.
Cape Times