By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
South Africa’s public hospitals have spent R685 million on diesel to keep the lights on amid the Eskom crisis in a period of 11 months.
Responding to parliamentary Q&A, the minister of health, Joe Phaahla, said that between the period 1 April 2022 to 28 February 2023, hospitals had spent a total of roughly R686 million on diesel alone – R19 million over budget.
Phaahla said KwaZulu-Natal spent the most at R178 million, followed by Gauteng (R131 million) and the Western Cape (R102 million). The Free State recorded the lowest amount spent over the period at R21 million.
Four out of nine of the provinces were out of budget when it came to spending on diesel; however, the total deficit was enough to exceed that which was under budget.
When asked if the generators across hospitals in the various provinces were in workable condition, the minister said they were. However, he said he would not make a statement on the generators.
To better combat load shedding at hospitals, Phaahla said that he had directed the director general of health to meet with Eskom personally to seek interventions to mitigate load shedding.
“The first engagement took place on 22 September 2022. The meetings with Eskom are happening on a regular basis to seek more exemptions of healthcare facilities,” said Phaahla.
“There are further ongoing engagements with both the Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs and various municipalities regarding additional exemptions for both private and public health care facilities from the grid.”
Load shedding has been a sore point for hospitals, both private and public, in South Africa. The last intervention to better protect these crucial institutions from rolling blackouts dates back to 20 October 2022, when 77 hospitals nationwide were exempted from load shedding.
However, many more are relying solely on diesel generators with little space in their budgets to make the jump to solar energy.
In November late last year, the department, in collaboration with the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), announced that it would conduct a feasibility study on the rollout of solar panels in health facilities.