https://www.polity.org.za
Deepening Democracy through Access to Information
Home / Statements RSS ← Back
boilers|Health|Pipe|Pipes|Pumps|Storage|Water|Equipment|Maintenance|Operations|Pipe
boilers|Health|Pipe|Pipes|Pumps|Storage|Water|Equipment|Maintenance|Operations|Pipe
boilers|health|pipe-company|pipes|pumps|storage|water|equipment|maintenance|operations|pipe
Close

Email this article

separate emails by commas, maximum limit of 4 addresses

Sponsored by

Close

Article Enquiry

16 Gauteng hospitals suffer water shortages and cancel 392 ops


Close

Embed Video

16 Gauteng hospitals suffer water shortages and cancel 392 ops

16 Gauteng hospitals suffer water shortages and cancel 392 ops
Photo by Bloomberg

14th November 2023

ARTICLE ENQUIRY      SAVE THIS ARTICLE      EMAIL THIS ARTICLE

Font size: -+

/ MEDIA STATEMENT / The content on this page is not written by Polity.org.za, but is supplied by third parties. This content does not constitute news reporting by Polity.org.za.

Sixteen Gauteng public hospitals have experienced water cuts this year, forcing the cancellation of 392 operations.

This is revealed by Gauteng Health and Wellness MEC Nomantu Nkomo-Ralehoko in a written reply to my questions in the Gauteng Legislature.

Advertisement

The Helen Joseph Hospital had 7 water supply interruptions from March to September this year, 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. Negative effects on patients included being unable to clean, cook, and operate essential equipment like boilers, laundry and autoclave sterilisers.

Advertisement

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 used contingency measures to avoid cancelling any surgery.

Water problems are not only because of Rand Water or municipality cuts - no fewer than 11 hospitals lost water because of internal pipe breakages. These include the Chris Hani Baragwanath, Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg, George Mukhari, Steve Biko, Tembisa, Kalafong, Edenvale, Leratong, Yusuf Dadoo, Kopanong and Jubilee hospitals.

The department says 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.

According to the department, steps are being taken to ensure all hospitals have tankers and boreholes, rainwater harvesting, grey water reuse, and water purification plans per facility.

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.

 

Issued by Jack Bloom MPL - DA Gauteng Shadow MEC for Health

EMAIL THIS ARTICLE      SAVE THIS ARTICLE ARTICLE ENQUIRY

To subscribe email subscriptions@creamermedia.co.za or click here
To advertise email advertising@creamermedia.co.za or click here

Comment Guidelines

 

About

Polity.org.za is a product of Creamer Media.
www.creamermedia.co.za

Other Creamer Media Products include:
Engineering News
Mining Weekly
Research Channel Africa

Read more

Subscriptions

We offer a variety of subscriptions to our Magazine, Website, PDF Reports and our photo library.

Subscriptions are available via the Creamer Media Store.

View store

Advertise

Advertising on Polity.org.za is an effective way to build and consolidate a company's profile among clients and prospective clients. Email advertising@creamermedia.co.za

View options

Email Registration Success

Thank you, you have successfully subscribed to one or more of Creamer Media’s email newsletters. You should start receiving the email newsletters in due course.

Our email newsletters may land in your junk or spam folder. To prevent this, kindly add newsletters@creamermedia.co.za to your address book or safe sender list. If you experience any issues with the receipt of our email newsletters, please email subscriptions@creamermedia.co.za