Private hospital group Mediclinic is sinking boreholes and closely monitoring its water consumption to mitigate the risk of the Western Cape’s worst drought in 100 years. About a third (17) of the group’s 50 South African hospitals are in the Western Cape. The City of Cape Town has been urging business and domestic consumers to curb consumption drastically to ensure the metropolis does not run out of water before next winter’s rains. At the same time, the Western Cape health department is reactivating disused boreholes and drilling new ones at public hospitals to ensure they have secure water supplies. "It is very high on our risk register," said group CEO Danie Meintjes on Thursday, shortly after the company released its interim results for the six months to September 30. "We started to evaluate our daily consumption at all our facilities in the Western Cape. We sank boreholes and … are busy with a plan to distribute the water," he said. "We are quite comfortable that we are in pre...

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