Hospitals advised to maintain diesel stocks

Health superintendent-general Thobile Mbengashe has instructed hospital managers in the province to stock enough diesel to power generators as irregular electricity supply is starting to affect water supply at some health centres.

“Where needs be, we shelve surgical procedures that can be delayed during this critical period [of load-shedding],” Mbengashe said on Thursday.

Hotels in areas like Haga Haga and Morgan's Bay in the Great Kei municipality already have underground water tanks on standby should the water supply continue to drop due to load-shedding.

Amathole district municipality announced earlier this week that power cuts were now affecting water supply in hospitals such as Tafalofefe in Kabakazi village, 21.5km north-west of Mazeppa Bay in Mnquma municipality.

Municipal spokesperson Noni Vuso said this was because the Mnquma water schemes were being hit by load-shedding.

“The Qolora by sea scheme and all the electric borehole schemes, including the Njakazi borehole which supplies water at Tafalofefe hospital, are affected. In fact, in Mnquma all schemes are affected.

“The load-shedding has a negative impact on our role of rendering water services to our communities as most of our water schemes utilise electricity for daily operations.

Health spokesman Lwandile Sicwetsha said the only way to work around load-shedding was for the superintendent- general to instruct hospitals to stock more diesel for backup generators.

“We are closely monitoring the impact and are on standby to ensure that our health facilities’ core and critical functions are not disrupted in any way,” said Sicwetsha.

“All our hospital managers have been asked to ensure that our generators have enough diesel as back up,” he added.

Of paramount importance was for generators to be checked regularly.

There is deep concern over popular tourist destinations like Hogsback near Alice, as accommodation establishments rely on separate water lines to that of the municipality.

Belinda Ayre, of Hogsback Inn, said most Hogsback businesses pumped water from “our own stream”.

“The levels [of water] are indeed dropping. We are very aware of the water situation because Hogsback is a tourist attraction and we are very concerned about it. All we try and do is train staff to watch water consumption,” she said.

Vuso said electricity was used in water treatment facilities and pump stations to distribute the water.

“During load-shedding we are unable to treat water or distribute it to the supply reservoirs. Unfortunately we do not have sufficient storage capacity in our reservoirs to keep the pipelines full during load-shedding,” she said.