19 January 2023
MEDIA STATEMENT
BHISHO — Thugs vandalised and stole electricity cables at Cecilia Makiwane Hospital on Tuesday, causing disruption of services and plunging the Mdantsane hospital into darkness.
The Eastern Cape Department of Health worked around the clock to restore power.
The cables that supply power to the hospital were badly vandalised with other cables stolen. Although the generators on site are functional, the missing cables meant that the electricity generated by the generators could not be conducted to the various parts of the hospital.
A preliminary report indicates that the perpetrators dug a hole underneath the fence to gain entry to the facility.
Mobile generators had to be deployed to the facility to operate critical areas- areas like the adult and paediatric ICUs and the kitchen so that patients could have warm food.
Due to the urgency of the matter, a contractor to conduct complete assessment, repairs and replacement of the damaged and stolen cables was appointed immediately the need became known.
The contractors worked through the night until the power was restored this afternoon.
As an interim measure, the department made the following interventions:
● Patients at OPD were diverted to Frere Hospital;
● Two clinical managers from CMH were allocated to work at Frere casualty to assist with the workload;
● Fifteen corpses were moved to Mdantsane forensic for safe storage; and
● All caesarean sections were taken to Frere Hospital.
MEC for Health Nomakhosazana Meth, who embarked on an oversight visit to the hospital this afternoon, condemned cable theft.
“We need our communities to take ownership of government properties because it will be them who will suffer when services are disrupted. The people who stole the cables live among us in our communities".
“We are calling on community forums, communities and everyone to work together to ensure that such criminal elements are rooted out by exposing the thugs behind such criminality.
“We are fortunate that this time there were no lives lost as a result of this thuggery because we moved with speed to ensure that a contractor was appointed to fix the cables while critical patients were moved to other hospitals.
“We thank the CEO and his team for working until midnight and early this morning,” she said.
The MEC futher expressed words of appreciation to Buffalo City Deputy Executive Mayor, Cllr Princess who also provided support and assistance by clearing the hospital grounds.
MEC called on the police to leave no stone unturned in their investigation.
The vandalism and stealing of the cables caused major delays and interruptions as some surgeries could not be performed and medication dispensed to patients as these required an ongoing electricity supply.
In this particular instance, we can fortunately report that there has been no adverse events reported.
Normal operations at the facility are expected to resume tomorrow.
Issued by the Eastern Cape Department of Health.
For enquiries, contact:
Mr Mkhululi Ndamase, Spokesperson to MEC on 071 851 8338
Ms Yonela Dekeda, Provincial Spokesperson, Eastern Cape Department of Health on 083 378 0968
