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The hospital’s major power cable reportedly caught fire on Sunday resulting in a power blackout that affected the whole hospital, which has since resorted to using generators.
In an interview yesterday, acting Mpilo chief executive officer Dr Wedu Ndebele confirmed the blackout saying the hospital now had an extra expense to purchase fuel for the generators.
“Our major cable caught fire on Sunday and this resulted in a power blackout. As we speak we are using generators for our patients in intensive care unit, maternity wards and other critical units which need electricity to function,” said Dr Ndebele.
He said the hospital had no option but to use generators as some operations cannot do without power.
“Using generators is working for us though it is draining the hospital financially. There is nothing we can do because officials from Zesa have told us that the fault is a major one and we cannot expect to be reconnected soon.
“Our cooking has been greatly affected as well but we will continue buying fuel until the fault is fixed,” said Dr Ndebele.
Contacted for comment, Zesa Western Region manager Mr Lovemore Chinaka said he was not aware of the fault and told this reporter to send questions to his office today.
Online Reporter