Healthcare services across the Western Cape remain operational despite severe weather conditions impacting parts of the province, although residents are being urged to expect delays and avoid non-urgent visits where travel conditions are unsafe.

According to Monique Johnstone, spokesperson for the Western Cape Department of Health and Wellness, most healthcare facilities continue to function while contingency plans are in place to ensure patients continue receiving care.

“The Western Cape Department of Health and Wellness confirms that while severe weather persists across parts of the province the majority of our health-care services remain operational, with patients safe and continuing to receive care.”

She added that health-care teams were working under difficult circumstances while striving to maintain person-centred care.

“We are experiencing service delays at our healthcare facilities and request for patience and understanding from our communities accessing care, as our teams were working under challenging conditions, providing person-centred care, while ensuring that services remained operational.”

The department said the primary impact of the adverse weather had been power supply interruptions affecting several healthcare facilities across the province.

“All clinics in the Breede Valley area and certain parts of the Cape Winelands have been closed after patients were treated, to ensure the safety of our staff and patients,” Johnstone confirmed.

She said contingency measures, including the use of generators and patient transfers where necessary, had been implemented to ensure essential services continued.

Hospitals and clinics in the Overberg, West Coast, Cape Metro, Garden Route and Central Karoo districts were continuing to operate under these contingency arrangements.

In some instances hospitals are functioning on generator power. At Caledon Hospital, emergency cases including pediatric and theatre patients are being transferred to Hermanus Hospital through established referral systems supported by Emergency Medical Services (EMS) due to infrastructure damage caused by strong winds.

Mitchells Plain Hospital has also been affected by a power outage. Patients requiring specialist healthcare services are being diverted and transferred to Khayelitsha District Hospital until power is restored.

Unsafe road conditions in the West Coast District have furthermore resulted in the temporary closure of Redelinghuys Clinic and the suspension of the Piketberg Bo-berg mobile healthcare service.

The department also confirmed that mobile healthcare outreach services in high-risk areas across the province have been suspended as a precaution due to dangerous travelling conditions. These services will be rescheduled once conditions improve.

Johnstone noted that EMS is currently managing a high volume of weather-related incidents.

“The current focus remains on emergency response and maintaining service continuity,” she said. “So EMS may not be able to verify or respond to all individual media queries immediately.”

The department urged residents to remain cautious, monitor official communication channels and postpone non-urgent healthcare visits if travelling conditions are unsafe.

For medical emergencies the public can contact EMS on 10177.