Nyanga Community Health Clinic faces electricity crisis

The electricity crisis at Nyanga Community Health Clinic is a pressing concern that requires urgent attention from authorities.

This is according to Ward 37 councillor Sandile Martins, who said the facility has been without electricity for more than a week.

ower supply, noting that some patients were turned away because certain services could not be provided without electricity. "This should not happen in a health facility. The clinic serves many elderly and seriously ill patients. How can a facility that serves thousands of people be without electricity for a week? Even two days is not acceptable," he said.

A staff member, who requested anonymity for fear of harassment, mentioned that the clinic has been grappling with ongoing electricity problems, with frequent outages and constant maintenance on the electrical system becoming the norm. "We can confirm there has been an electricity challenge since last Monday. It is worrying and affects our work. However, we have tried to continue operating under difficult conditions. Officials from local government have visited and promised to return to fix the problem," the staff member said.

The staff member added that the situation has made it difficult to log onto computer systems and suggested that ageing infrastructure, which can no longer support the area’s growing population, could be at the heart of the problem.

The Western Cape Department of Health and Wellness acknowledged the challenges and confirmed that the facility had been partially affected by an electricity outage caused by vandalism to community power infrastructure. However, it stated that the City of Cape Town has since repaired the faults.

"Electricity supply to the Nyanga CDC has now been fully restored. We can confirm that services continued during the outage, with staff providing care and maintaining power to fridges to ensure medication temperatures were not affected," the department said.

It added that despite the partial outage, the facility did not experience major service disruptions, and no patients were diverted.

However, one patient shared a different experience. A woman who identified herself only as Nomava said she had visited the clinic three times without receiving assistance. "On my first visit, I was told to come back after two days. When I returned, the problem was still there. I have been turned away twice because there was no electricity. This is my third time, and I hope I will finally get help," she said.

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