{"id":230646,"date":"2022-07-06T20:06:21","date_gmt":"2022-07-06T18:06:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.groundup.org.za\/article\/for-unako-kewana-loadshedding-is-life-threatening\/"},"modified":"2022-07-06T20:06:21","modified_gmt":"2022-07-06T18:06:21","slug":"for-unakho-kewana-loadshedding-is-life-threatening","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/for-unakho-kewana-loadshedding-is-life-threatening\/","title":{"rendered":"For Unakho Kewana, loadshedding is life-threatening"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Unakho Kewana is dependent on electricity for her oxygen supply. Photo supplied<\/p>\n

When the power goes off, it is a scary moment for Unako Kewana. The East London 18-year-old depends on electricity to breathe properly.<\/p>\n

She breathes with the assistance of a device that supplies oxygen. When the power is off she has to reduce the amount of oxygen the device delivers or it runs out of oxygen within about 15 minutes.<\/p>\n

She does not have backup power.<\/p>\n

Kewana was diagnosed four years ago with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. She has to be connected to oxygen all the time.<\/p>\n

Her doctor advised her to quit school. Kewana does not travel or go outside her mother\u2019s Mdantsane home.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s important for those with low oxygen to stay plugged in at all times,\u201d she told GroundUp.<\/p>\n

During recent loadshedding, she has had to call an ambulance almost every day to help her breathe. \u201cIt becomes a life threatening situation,\u201d said Kewana. When loadshedding happens she gets panic attacks.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy life is at risk,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Kewana says she cannot afford a solar panel or generator on her monthly disability grant. Her mother, Nontobeko Kewana, is also dependent on a social grant after she suffered a stroke in 2016. The trip to Cecilia Makiwane Hospital, for checkups or in emergencies, costs R200. \u201cI don\u2019t always have the transport money to take her to the hospital.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s painful what she is going through.\u201d<\/p>\n

Professor Fran\u00e7ois Venter is the director of Ezintsha, a public health research institute at Wits University. \u201cLoadshedding is a serious problem for some patients,\u201d he said. \u201cNot only for those with lung disease who rely on oxygen and nebuliser devices at home, but also for people who receive dialysis at home.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI cannot imagine the fear people dependent on failing health systems must feel,\u201d Venter said. \u201cThey can\u2019t buy their way out of trouble. This government relentlessly fails poor people.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

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\u00a9 2022 GroundUp. This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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Source: GroundUp<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Unakho Kewana is dependent on electricity for her oxygen supply. Photo supplied When the power goes off, it is a scary moment for Unako Kewana. The East London 18-year-old depends on electricity to breathe properly. She breathes with the assistance of a device that supplies oxygen. When the power is off she has to reduce […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":230647,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[9928],"tags":[28001],"class_list":{"0":"post-230646","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-groundup","8":"tag-groundup","9":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/for-unakho-kewana-loadshedding-is-life-threatening.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/230646","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=230646"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/230646\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/230647"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=230646"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=230646"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=230646"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}