Johannesburg -The erratic power supply at Chris Hani Baragwanath Academic Hospital had affected 28 operations this week and, if the outages continue, the hospital might have to prioritise cases based on urgency.
The Gauteng Department of Health said on Tuesday that the outages the hospital had experienced from Monday had affected a number of services, in particular the supply of linen needed in theatres for surgery.
The central sterile services department and the laundries shut down on Monday because of the cut.
“Only half of theatre cases could be done - 30 out of 58,” the department’s spokesman Steve Mabona said.
“However, all emergency surgery cases were done.
“During this time, there was intermittent power supply from generators, thus providing power to the rest of the hospital,” he said.
The hospital had shut off the steam supply to the laundry until the damage had been assessed.
Mabona added: “At present, only one boiler, instead of two, is supplying steam.”
The technicians had worked “tirelessly” overnight to restore the steam and alternative arrangements had been made with nearby hospitals to have linen cleaned and sterilised.
The scanning department had also been affected by the power cuts.
A week ago, DA MPL Jack Bloom said Helen Joseph Hospital had had a linen shortage for an entire month, with 25 operations having to be cancelled.
The Star