HPCSA pleads for health facilities to be exempt from load shedding

It's made the appeal to Eskom, saying the power outages are putting an enormous strain on an already stretched public healthcare system.

READ: Govt to announce further measures to ease load shedding

Health practitioners say that because power outages have now occurred regularly and having to jump from one stage of load shedding to the next quality healthcare is being compromised. 

The blackouts are also affecting the daily routines of medical facilities. 

They say some hospitals' inability to perform emergency surgeries has put the lives of patients at risk. 

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The council stressed that over 80% of people rely on public healthcare, which is why load shedding and the lack of contingency measures have proved to be catastrophic for the healthcare environment. 

There are 420 state-run hospitals and more than 3 000 state-run clinics in the country. Private facilities and tertiary-level public hospitals are well equipped with generators.