House Chair, recently an incident in Bloemfontein was reported where a 61-year-old man, Mr William Engelbrecht, died when an oxygen machine could not assist him to breathe after the second power cut in one day. One of the Eastern Cape's oncology facilities has reported that cancer patients have started to feel the impact of load-shedding as their treatments are interrupted. Once they are in the middle of treatment the electricity goes off, which results in patients missing out on their treatment for the day and then having to be rescheduled for the following day.
Some of these patients come from very distant areas and they have nowhere to wait for the electricity to come back on. This has an emotional impact on patients' treatment and it is quite traumatic when it is interrupted: They doubt whether the treatment will work or not.
While most facilities may have generators, some are using linear accelerator, Linac, machines for radiation, which is safer and more accurate for radiation therapy. However, these machines use too much electricity to be connected to generators.
It is important for Eskom to investigate whether the different times at which schedules are being implemented does not create a challenge with the management of patients' treatment in various health facilities and homes; whether more aggressive, regular and timely warnings in the event of a change in published schedules should be considered to prepare alternative arrangements; and whether the capacity of some ... [Time expired.]