Umamah Bakharia | ub@radioislam.co.za

5min read
30 September 2022 | 11:00 am CAT

Health Minister Joe Phaahla says that major hospitals in the country will be exempted from loadshedding.

This comes after hospitals across the country began a petition on loadshedding, which they say has affected the duty of the healthcare system.

Phaahla was joined by his deputy minister, Sibongiseni Dhlomo, who updated how the power cuts affected the public sector’s healthcare services.

The Health Department says it had met with power utility Eskom, the minister of public works and enterprises, and municipal officials to discuss the dire situation.

“Of course, this may not be the case when there’s a breakdown of cables in the supply through Eskom itself but in terms of planned and managed load shedding, these facilities have been guaranteed to be exempted, either directly through Eskom or through their local authorities.”

The health minister added that the breakdown of the power supply not only impacted operations but also affected the safety of healthcare workers.

“There are some thugs that prey on health workers knowing that they finish work late at night and when there’s outages in the streets and areas where they live, they pounce on them as they arrive.”