Between Tuesday 14 and Wednesday 15 February areas in Vredenburg and Paternoster were exempted from specific load shedding slots.
Leensie Lötter, spokesperson for the West Coast Health Department confirmed that Vredenburg Hospital’s challenge with its generator was resolved last week. “However between Tuesday 14 and Wednesday 15 February the hospital had several major surgeries scheduled and requested the municipality to suspend load shedding for the duration of the surgeries,” she said.
Lötter said this was to keep the patients involved safe from any issues that might occur during the switch over to and from the generator during load shedding. “This was a once-off request, and we thank the Saldanha Bay Municipality (SBM) for accommodating us.”
Ethne Lawrence, spokesperson of SBM explained, however, that Vredenburg and Paternoster’s electricity is switched on and off by Eskom’s load shedding control centre. She said the Department of Health liaised directly with Eskom to be exempted from load shedding at certain times to accommodate major surgeries at Vredenburg Provincial Hospital.”
Load shedding resumed last night.
According to the current load shedding schedule Vredenburg and Paternoster’s electricity will be off tonight (Friday) from 18:00 – 20:30.
