Health
(1) Whether it has been brought to her attention that the water crisis is having a negative impact on patients in the province after scores of renal patients were turned away from the Melomed Hospital in Athlone without receiving their dialysis treatment on 23 February 2018 as the hospital had been experiencing low water pressure for two weeks; if so, what is being done to address this;
(2) whether any other hospitals and clinics in the province are affected by similar challenges; if so, what are the relevant details?
[1] The Department has been engaging the National Renal Care and the private hospital groups. We are assisting and supporting them in developing their water resilient plans and ensuring their plans are integrated with that of the Department.
[2] The Department has a Water Preparedness Plan [WPP] that strives to conserve water, monitor water usage as well as how we can mitigate the effect on service delivery. The WPP has been circulated to staff in November 2017, with regular engagement with managers around it and outlines the Department’s strategy in saving water at its facilities and is three-fold:
- To reduce water consumption at health care facilities
- To be prepared for the possibility of water rationing
To be prepared for the total loss of municipal water supply
