POLOKO TAU
ILLEGAL connections to Protea South Clinic’s power supply have cost the City of Joburg R70 000 in electrical repairs.
The council said it has been replacing and repairing electrical equipment at the clinic since August 2010, adding that despite disconnecting and removing illegal connections on seven occasions, the problem has been recurring. The last disconnection was done two weeks ago.
Council health spokesman Nkosinathi Nkabinde said constant outages due to illegal power connections have had a negative effect on the delivery of primary healthcare services.
“The winter of 2011 was the most difficult time for staff at the Protea South Clinic as the electricity was disturbed every so often. We even found diggings in the backyard of the clinic where illegal wires were connected and had to be removed by a security company,” Nkabinde said.
He said interference with the power supply to the clinic had “caused problems for the storage of vaccines, and medication air-conditioners had to be repaired often”.
Nkabinde said repairs and replacements were also done after electricity plugs blew some equipment, such as the IT and UV lights, due to interference to the clinic’s power supply.
He added that seven emergency repairs were done since August 23, 2010, and noted that repairs had been done to circuit-breakers for the air-conditioners in the drug room and plugs in the entire clinic on April 11, 2011.
Further repairs were done in June to all lighting and plugs. Similar repairs were done last month.