The Steve Biko Academic Hospital in Pretoria had to use generators at the weekend after a cable fault.
An employee at the hospital said there were blackouts that resulted in delays in healthcare delivery.
“We were without power and telephones were not working, it wasn't the best for caring for patients. It was surprising that we were in the dark and the next street had power,” said the employee.
Victor Moreriane of the Gauteng department of infrastructure development (DID) said the outage was caused by a faulty 11kVa cable.
“Steve Biko was running on generators on Saturday and Sunday while the onsite team and Cot technicians were fault finding. The service provider was also appointed in an emergency on Sunday afternoon for pressure testing of the 11kVa line to identify the faulty cable.
“Normal power supply was restored on Monday morning. The oncology complex, Tshwane District Hospital and University of Pretoria residential areas are still running on generators as the contractor is on site, attending to the other faulty cable,” said Moreriane.
Meanwhile, after 21 years of service in the Gauteng public health system, Dr Mathabo Mathebula left the hospital as CEO and has taken up a new permanent role as the COO in the office of health standard compliance.
The outage happened the same week that Dr Lehlohonolo Majake started as acting CEO of the hospital.
“Though there were challenges with the electricity supply Steve Biko Academic Hospital never experienced a glitch in service delivery. All services were successfully 'rendered as scheduled'.
“The hospital is mainly running on electricity with a small section on a generator. The contractor is on site to find the fault and manage accordingly,” Majake's office said.
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Steve Biko hospital uses generators as faulty cable puts the lights out
Image: Antonio Muchave
The Steve Biko Academic Hospital in Pretoria had to use generators at the weekend after a cable fault.
An employee at the hospital said there were blackouts that resulted in delays in healthcare delivery.
“We were without power and telephones were not working, it wasn't the best for caring for patients. It was surprising that we were in the dark and the next street had power,” said the employee.
Victor Moreriane of the Gauteng department of infrastructure development (DID) said the outage was caused by a faulty 11kVa cable.
“Steve Biko was running on generators on Saturday and Sunday while the onsite team and Cot technicians were fault finding. The service provider was also appointed in an emergency on Sunday afternoon for pressure testing of the 11kVa line to identify the faulty cable.
“Normal power supply was restored on Monday morning. The oncology complex, Tshwane District Hospital and University of Pretoria residential areas are still running on generators as the contractor is on site, attending to the other faulty cable,” said Moreriane.
Meanwhile, after 21 years of service in the Gauteng public health system, Dr Mathabo Mathebula left the hospital as CEO and has taken up a new permanent role as the COO in the office of health standard compliance.
The outage happened the same week that Dr Lehlohonolo Majake started as acting CEO of the hospital.
“Though there were challenges with the electricity supply Steve Biko Academic Hospital never experienced a glitch in service delivery. All services were successfully 'rendered as scheduled'.
“The hospital is mainly running on electricity with a small section on a generator. The contractor is on site to find the fault and manage accordingly,” Majake's office said.
TimesLIVE
Support independent journalism by subscribing to the Sunday Times. Just R20 for the first month.
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