WC hospitals turn to more reliable power backup system

Premier Alan Winde said the health facilities were preparing as power outages were expected to worsen during winter.

CAPE TOWN - Western Cape hospitals are turning to more reliable power backup systems, as it's feared the ongoing outages will get worse over Winter.

This is the word from the province's Premier Alan Winde.

All of the province's hospitals have backup diesel generators, with uninterruptible power source systems for the facilities' ICUs.

But Winde said Knysna Hospital's generator had problems before, adding that they can't take chances.

Read: Cape Town city plans for a more secure energy in the year 2023

"Now what we are doing is we’re transferring as fast as we can to solar panel battery backup systems. Three of our big hospitals already got solar power battery systems," said the premier.

Reacting to the recent high court ruling that Eskom should exempt State hospitals, clinics and police stations from power cuts, Winde agreed with a legal expert's analysis that the judgment was impractical.

"I think the court ruling is great but unfortunately, I can't see how it's feasible and, of course, if we’re at Level 6 and above, it doesn't matter whether you’ve got a court ruling that says the hospital must stay on, if there is no electricity, you can't keep the hospital on."