MEC for Health and Wellness, Nomantu Nkomo-Ralehoko. Picture: File
A range of issues over the year have left hospitals in the province unable to provide adequate services, including forcing surgeries to be cancelled.
Admitting that 16 hospitals had been forced – at one point or the other, to cancel operations, the Department of Health said low pressure or no water at all, and internal pipe breakages had seen theatres shut down and turn away 392 patients.
MEC for Health and Wellness, Nomantu Nkomo-Ralehoko, told her colleagues in legislature that the hospitals were also unable to clean, cook, and operate essential equipment like boilers, laundry and autoclave sterilisers.
Among the hospitals was Edenvale Hospital and Helen Joseph Hospital, which had 7 water supply interruptions from March to September, with 36 operations cancelled.
Edenvale Hospital had to cancel 117 operations because of 7 periods with low pressure or no water at all, sometimes lasting as long as a week.
Talking after he asked the MEC questions, DA health spokesperson Jack Bloom said: “Six water failures at the Pholosong Hospital on the East Rand led to 127 cancelled operations and 36 deferred operations.
“Kalafong hospital had major water shortages this year on 28 January and on 9 September, but they used contingency measures to avoid cancelling any surgery.”
But, the water problems were not only because of Rand Water or municipality cuts, the MEC said, as no fewer than 11 hospitals lost water because of internal pipe breakages. Among these were the Chris Hani Baragwanath, Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg, Dr George Mukhari, Steve Biko, Tembisa, Kalafong, Edenvale, Leratong and Yusuf Dadoo.
Said Bloom: “The department said hospitals should have a minimum of 48 hours water storage, which many hospitals claim to have but it does not seem to have prevented water disruptions. One problem is that some hospitals do not have pumps to get water to higher floors, low water pressure is a particular problem at the Tembisa and Edenvale hospitals.”
Steps are being taken to ensure all hospitals had tankers and boreholes, rainwater harvesting, grey water reuse, and water purification plans per facility, Nkomo-Ralehoko confessed.
“Better maintenance should also be a priority, as leaking pipes aggravate the problem. The DA supports all efforts to make our hospitals water resilient as our water woes seem set to continue for a long time.”
Pretoria News
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