THE Gauteng Department of Health says it is concerned about the ongoing water disruptions that continue to negatively impact on service provision at its health facilities in the province.
Health department’s spokesperson Kwara Kekana said power failure was reported by the Rand Water over the weekend, affected the City of Johannesburg, Rand West Local Municipality, Merafong City Local Municipality and Mogale City Local Municipality, and resulted in reservoirs running low, thus affecting water supply to parts of the Chris Hani Baragwanath Academic Hospital and Leratong Hospital in the West Rand.
Kekana added that the ongoing water disruptions at Brixton, Crosby and Hursthill areas also continue to affect water supply to the Helen Joseph Hospital and Rahima Moosa Mother & Child Hospital.
“Over the past week, engagements have taken place with various stakeholders, including Joburg Water, Rand Water and the Gauteng Department of Infrastructure Development to try and find a lasting solution to the ongoing water supply problem,” said Kekana.
“As an interim measure provision is always made to supply affected facilities with water tankers, however, given that health facilities require tons of water to perform various services, and the need for sustained supply of water, the stop gap measure only allows for limited service provision.”
She said since last week, the management of both the Rahima Moosa Mother & Child Hospital and Helen Joseph Hospital attempted to alleviate some of the pressure from the two worse affected facilities by transferring out some of the patients to other hospitals, and also performing some of their theatre operations at sister hospitals.
“As of this morning (Monday), parts of CHBAH are without water, with low pressure in some areas while Leratong Hospital water supply has been restored, albeit with low pressure,” said Kekana.
“The Department wishes to express its gratitude to good Samaritans that continue to work closely with some of the facilities to provide temporary relief. We continue to appeal to communities and our patients to bear with us as various government agencies are working to find lasting solutions to the prevailing challenges which are outside our core mandate. This will allow the Gauteng Department of Health to focus on the provision of clinical care to patients.”
- Inside Metros