According to a written reply tabled in parliament by the minister, the number of hospitals granted exemption has increased from 37 to 72. The question that led to the minister revealing the information, was asked by the Democratic Alliance (DA) member of the National Assembly, Michéle Clarke. The reply shows that 14 health facilities, which includes clinics and hospitals in the Free State, have been added to the list of facilities that do not experience load-shedding. There is only one health facility in the Northern Cape that has been added, whereas there isn’t any health facility in the North West that has been added to the list.

Phaahla says that the National Department of Health has identified a list of health facilities that require an urgent exemption either from Eskom or local municipalities. “The department provided Eskom with a total of 212 priority hospitals across the country to be considered for possible exclusion from load-shedding on a phased approach,” reads the reply. While 67% of the hospitals on the priority list receive electricity from the municipalities, the remaining 33% is supplied directly by Eskom. 

At the moment, alternative ways are being looked at by the department to implement the exemption of health facilities in all provinces as a matter of urgency, in line with the commitment made to ensure that no province is left behind. “The preliminary network analysis conducted, revealed that 28 hospitals in various provinces can be excluded from load-shedding 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,” concludes the reply.

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In the Free State, the spokespersons for the provincial department of health, Mondli Mvambi, said they are nevertheless coping with load-shedding albeit under difficult circumstances. “Many of our District Hospitals, Regional Hospitals and Community Health Centers (CHCs) have generators, including the Pelonomi and Universitas Hospitals. These hospitals have responded well so far to the challenges of load-shedding and we have not experienced any adverse events related to load-shedding.”

Whereas the Northern Cape Health Department's Head of Communications, Lulu Mxekezo, said that health facilities have standby generators. “The department has a contract in place with a service provider that is maintaining the standby generators. We are negotiating with different municipalities and Eskom to minimise or adjust to less busy time slots of load-shedding at the areas where health facilities are situated.”

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While in the North West, the provincial spokesperson, Tebogo Lekgethwane, explained that all of their health facilities have backup generators. 

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