The Eastern Cape health department has admonished DA MPL Jane Cowley for spreading “fake news” after she reported two people had died in Komani’s Frontier Hospital at the weekend because of power outages.
The Dispatch was unable to verify Cowley’s claims on Tuesday.
In a statement early on Tuesday, Cowley claimed two critically ill patients on life support had died while medical staff were trying to move them to another health facility amid a town power outage and hospital generator malfunctions.
She said these consistent power outages in the Enoch Mgijima municipality, which sometimes lasted for weeks and were believed to be due to ailing and ageing electricity infrastructure, “have severely disrupted operations and compromised patient safety in the hospital” in recent months.
She said at the weekend, amid yet another power outage and a generator malfunction, medical staff were forced to move critical patients on life support systems, with some placed on oxygen cylinders, to another unidentified health facility.
But despite medical staff’s best efforts, she said, two patients died.
“Elective surgeries have also been indefinitely postponed due to the inability to conduct them on backup power alone.
“With the hospital reliant on an unstable power supply, resulting disruptions have tragically led to preventable loss of life, underscoring the urgent need for stable infrastructure to protect patients.
“This case highlights the constitutional implications when critical healthcare facilities are deprived of reliable power, whether due to national load-shedding or local infrastructure failures.
“It underscores the importance of proactive and urgent measures to safeguard these institutions, ensuring they can operate continuously to meet the public’s constitutional right to health care and safety,” Cowley said in her statement.
She said she had written to provincial health MEC Ntandokazi Capa and the leader of government business in the province, Mlungisi Mvoko, requesting that emergency funding be urgently made available to the hospital.
“This funding is essential either to provide Frontier Hospital with sufficient solar energy for an uninterrupted power supply, or to connect the hospital directly to Eskom to ensure reliable electricity.”
Such an intervention should be viewed as a priority, especially as the festive season approached, a period that typically saw a significant rise in emergencies.
But Capa hit back, rubbishing Cowley’s claims, saying no such deaths had occurred at the hospital.
“It is shocking that an elected leader would spread such malicious and fake news without verifying the facts.
“The truth is that no-one lost their lives at Frontier Hospital because of the disruption in electricity supply at the weekend, or during the 10 days last month that the facility had to operate using backup generators.
“We can also confirm that no critical patients were moved.”
The MEC, however, did confirm there was a power outage at the hospital at the weekend.
“Specific sections of Frontier Hospital were without a power supply, that of the X-ray and ICU units, on Saturday from 5pm until Sunday at 3pm.
“The disruption was caused by generator malfunctioning and the contracted company was able to fix the generator only 22 hours after the outage, resulting in X-rays being delayed.”
Capa said alternative measures were then explored.
“As a temporary measure, the mobile unit was used and then eventually an extension cord was connected to a section in the X-ray unit to ensure functionality.
“The ICU was never compromised as the hospital used batteries and recharged the supply units at other sections of the hospital.
“The hospital also had three backup ventilators among the contingencies.”
The irate MEC then accused the DA leader of damaging her department’s reputation.
“We understand the need for the opposition to point out everything they feel is wrong and needs to be addressed.
“What is not understandable is the spreading of fake news that not only causes unnecessary panic, but also contributes to reputational damage.
“We are calling on our colleagues in the opposition benches to be responsible, rather than risk spreading misinformation.”
Capa said Cowley’s statement contained “very serious allegations”.
“This is a very serious allegation that we do not take lightly.
“We will also be following processes of the legislature so that the honourable member can be held accountable.”
Responding to the department’s comments late on Tuesday, Cowley doubled down, saying: “This morning’s information relating to two patients’ deaths was based on credible information from reliable sources, and we remain confident in their integrity ...
“Our primary aim is to ensure that infrastructural issues never compromise patient safety.
“It is crucial that the ongoing challenges with power reliability at healthcare facilities, such as Frontier Hospital, receive urgent and focused attention.”
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