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DENOSA urges management in health facilities to ensure standby generators are functioning during this time of scheduled load shedding by Eskom
Media statement
Tuesday, 10 December 2019
As power generator Eskom has begun with various stages of load shedding countrywide, the Democratic Nursing Organisation of South Africa (DENOSA) would like make a special plea to management in healthcare facilities, once again, to ensure that their stand-by generators are functional at all times.
DENOSA also calls on nurses to report cases where stand-by generators have not been maintained or repaired as this may lead to the loss of patients’ lives and implication of healthcare professionals in times of litigations.
As an organisation for nurses, we are particularly concerned about the state of facilities on the outskirts of big cities and in rural areas where infrastructure at facilities is not well-looked after. DENOSA is also concerned that not all municipalities have the ability to exclude centres that render essential services like clinics and hospitals in their areas from load shedding.
Load shedding in most facilities could mean the demise of patients who either need the assistance of the machines with oxygen or power goes out in the middle of operations. And in many, cases it takes hours for ambulance services to ferry patients who need to be referred to secondary or tertiary facilities from clinics in the rural areas.
DENOSA would like to call on district municipalities to assist local municipalities in considering this critical aspect when connecting power to communities: that there are facilities that render essential service and which cannot afford to be without power.
End
Issued by the Democratic Nursing Organisation of South Africa (DENOSA)
For more information, contact:
Cassim Lekhoathi, DENOSA Acting General Secretary
Mobile: 082 328 9671
Simon Hlungwani, DENOSA President
Mobile: 082 328 9635
Tel: 012 343 2315
Website: www.denosa.org.za
Facebook: DENOSA National Page
Twitter: @DENOSAORG
