Power restored for man's op

2008-04-22 14:41

Verashni Pillay

Johannesburg - City Power restored electricity during scheduled load shedding at Olivedale Hospital in Johannesburg so that a man with a heart condition could undergo surgery on Tuesday morning.

In what the council made clear was a once-off move, power was restored so that the patient did not have to be airlifted to nearby Sunninghill Hospital.

The drama began when a cardiologist at the hospital admitted the man just before the electricity was cut at about 06:00, Olivedale Hospital spokesperson Elaine Rix told News24.

While plans were made to transport the man to Sunninghill Hospital, the frustrated cardiologist called Talk Radio 702 to complain about the situation on air.

"One of our technicians at Netcare head office, who is in contact with City Power and Eskom all the time, contacted Eskom," said Rix. "Eskom contacted City Power and they phoned our hospital manager to say they would turn it back on."

Rix said the hospital was relieved that the operation could go ahead at about 08:00, a full two hours ahead of when electricity is usually restored.

The hospital is on a load shedding schedule between 06:00 and 10:00 alternating every Tuesday and Thursday, as well as every second Saturday.

While the hospital does have back-up generators, Rix said the surgery, which consisted of an angiogram, could have led to open heart surgery and the surgeons could not risk losing power during the operation on a generator.

"That's a huge operation that takes hours and hours and we can't take that kind of risk," said Rix.

However the man did not require open heart surgery. Rix said he was in a stable condition in the cardiac intensive care unit.

- News24