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The Eastern Cape Health Department says patients and corpses had to be moved from Cecilia Makiwane Hospital in Mdantsane in East London after cable theft disrupted services to the health facility.
The Department said the hospital was plunged into darkness following Tuesday night’s vandalism and cable theft, forcing officials to work around the clock to have the power restored.
“Although the generators on site are functional, the missing cables meant that the electricity generated by the generators could not be conducted to the various parts of the hospital,” said spokesperson Yonela Dekeda.
She said early indications are that the perpetrators dug a hole underneath the fence to gain entry to the facility.
Dekeda said due to the urgency of the matter, a contractor to conduct a complete assessment, repairs, and replacement of the damaged and stolen cables was appointed, with power restored on Thursday afternoon.
She said in the meantime, patients were “diverted to Frere Hospital” and “fifteen corpses were moved to Mdantsane forensic for safe storage.”
Dekeda said all C-section operations were also moved to Frere Hospital.
The MEC for Health Nomakhosazana Meth, condemned the cable theft, appealing to communities to take responsibility for government properties as they will suffer when services are disrupted.
“We are fortunate that this time there were no lives lost as a result of this thuggery because we moved with speed to ensure that a contractor was appointed to fix the cables while critical patients were moved to other hospitals,” MEC Meth said.
She also called on the police to leave no stone unturned in finding the perpetrators.
MEC Meth said normal operations would resume at Cecilia Makiwane Hospital on Friday.
