Member of Executive Councils (MEC) Madoda Sambatha calls on Eskom to exempt North West hospitals from loadshedding

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The North West Health MEC Madoda Sambatha has reacted with dismay at failure by ESKOM to include the North West Province hospitals in the list of facilities that are excluded from load-shedding. The National Department of Health has at the end of September engaged ESKOM to consider exempting key hospitals in the country from load-shedding as part of mitigating against the impact of the energy crisis. The request from the National Department was for provinces to submit the lists of hospitals to be considered for exemption which the North West Province submitted.

However, the lists of hospitals that has just been released has not even a single hospital from the North West Province. When reacting to the list, MEC Madoda Sambatha has raised a concern that there seems to be no appreciation of health as an essential service.

"Provinces can't be treated differently in a crisis. Just like other provinces, the North West Province did submit a list of hospitals to be exempted from load-shedding. We raised a concern when we saw an Mpumalanga hospital listed under North West when the first list was published, we asked that it be corrected and the list of hospitals we have submitted be included but now on the new list of 37 only North West does not appear. It is not true that North West did not submit", said MEC Madoda Sambatha

The MEC has made a follow up requesting the Minister to immediately intervene as the North West Province can’t be treated as if it is not part of South Africa. The North West Province hospitals will be severely affected should the load-shedding persist. At the moment some services get interrupted and patients are beginning to complain due to the number of times they have to wait for electricity to return.

"If the North West Province is not included by next week based on its submission we will be left with no other option but to organize a provincial march targeting Eskom and demand that the Province be included in the lists of hospitals that are exempt from load-shedding", said MEC Sambatha.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Republic of South Africa: Department of Health.