Generator failure at Bara Hospital

11 December 2019

I am most concerned that Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital has suffered today from generator failure to supply power to certain operating theatres.

There have also been unexplained power trips of electricity supply since early this morning.

Non-emergency operations at the orthopaedic theatres have had to be cancelled and there have been problems at the maternity unit as well.

It is unclear what has led to the electrical fault and the generator failure, but I hope that it is not due to failure of maintenance or a shortage of diesel.

Eskom’s unanticipated load shedding has led to enormous problems for hospitals which generally only use generator power for emergency operations.

The tragedy is that staff and patients are traumatised by power fails and the surgery waiting list grows longer.

Issued by Jack Bloom,DA Gauteng Shadow Health MEC, 11 December 2019