Question NW3710 to the Minister of Health
28 October 2022 - NW3710
Clarke, Ms M to ask the Minister of Health
(1)What total number of (a) hospitals and (b) clinics have contacted (i) Eskom and (ii) the National Energy Regulator of South Africa in order to ask for loadshedding exemption in (aa) emergency situations and (bb) during general loadshedding nationally and provincially; (2) what number of (a) hospitals and (b) clinics have been granted loadshedding exemption in (i) emergency situations and (ii) during general loadshedding nationally and provincially?
Reply:
(1)-(2) The National Department of Health has identified a priority list of health facilities that requires an urgent exemption either from Eskom or local municipalities. The Department has provided Eskom with a total of 212 priority hospitals across the country to be considered for possible exclusion from loadshedding on a phased approach, and 67% of them are supplied directly by municipalities, while Eskom supplies the remaining 33%. The current number of hospitals excluded from loadshedding across the country, has increased from 37 to 72 since the last public announcement by Minister of Health Dr Joe Phaahla in September, while more efforts are being made to implement exemption of health facilities in all the provinces as a matter of urgency in line with the commitment made to ensure that no province is left behind. The updated list of exempted facilities per provinces is as follows: Eastern Cape (7), Free State (14), Gauteng (17), KZN (15), Limpopo (10), Mpumalanga (4), Western Cape (4) Northern Cape (1), and North West (0).
The preliminary network analysis conducted revealed that, 28 hospitals in various provinces can be excluded from loadshedding by building new infrastructure at the estimated cost of R100 million. However, the team is investigating possible load curtailment for bigger hospitals as well as other alternative solutions.
END.