Health Facilities Adopt Measures To Mitigate Load Reduction

The National Department of Health says they have already begun implementing short, medium and long-term load reduction interventions for all health facilities across the country.

This was heard during their presentation at the South African Human Rights Commission SAHRC National Investigative Inquiry into the Impact of Load Reduction on Human Rights.

The inquiry was set up following growing concerns and complaints received from some quarters of society that, while South Africa is experiencing a reprieve from load shedding, load reduction is seemingly ongoing.

The short term is where we seek the exemption of key hospitals on the grid from load shedding, of which 76 hospitals benefitted. On the medium term, we have conducted with the CSIR a report to back up the solar energy solutions roll-out to healthcare facilities. The third one, and that is the long-term, is that it covers the installation of dedicated lines to all the hospitals identified by Eskom itself, says the Health Departments Christoffel Engelbrecht.