Johannesburg Power Outage Raises Concerns Over Hospital Generator Fuel Supply

A day-long power interruption in Johannesburg on Sunday disrupted electricity supply to five major health facilities, including the Charlotte Maxeke Academic Hospital, Nelson Mandela Children's Hospital, and others. The outage occurred at 11:00 when a burned feeder board at the Ridge substation caused the disruption, impacting customers in Berea, Hillbrow, Parktown, and surrounding areas.

Doctors are now concerned about the diesel supply for the hospital generators, which are essential for maintaining operations during power outages. The Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Academic Hospital activated backup generators to remain operational during the outage. The Gauteng health department stated that City Power teams were working to assess the damage and restore power to the affected areas as soon as possible.

Why this matters: The power outage has raised concerns about the reliability of Johannesburg's power infrastructure and the potential impact on essential healthcare services. The incident highlights the importance of ensuring adequate fuel supplies for hospital generators to maintain critical services amid power disruptions.

City Power spokesperson Isaac Mangena said the affected healthcare services have been engaged and notified to use alternative methods like generators to continue providing services to patients. City Power is working to resolve the issue, and the estimated time of restoration will be communicated in subsequent updates.

The power system remains constrained, and customers are urged to reduce their electricity consumption to prevent overloading the system. "The power outage has raised concerns about the reliability of the city's power infrastructure and the potential impact on essential healthcare services," said a local resident affected by the outage. City Power teams continue to work on restoring power to the impacted areas, with a focus on ensuring hospitals and clinics have the necessary support to maintain critical services.

Key Takeaways

• Major Johannesburg hospitals hit by day-long power outage on Sunday.
• Backup generators activated to maintain operations at Charlotte Maxeke Hospital.
• Concerns raised about reliability of city's power infrastructure and impact on healthcare.
• City Power teams working to restore power and support hospitals/clinics.
• Customers urged to reduce electricity consumption to prevent overloading the system.