The Cecelia Makiwane hospital in East London was again the scene of anger and protest on Tuesday, following the death of four babies at the hospital last week, the South African Broadcasting Corporation reported.
The incubators and ventilators that had kept the babies alive shut down during a power failure last weekend, and a stand-by generator did not kick in.
It was established that it was an isolated power interruption to ward 17, where the babies were being kept.
About 200 members of the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) protested outside the hospital and, like the families, they want answers.
TAC leaders spent most of the day locked in meetings with hospital management looking at ways to prevent future infant deaths. They said they will continue with the action until a concrete plan is in place.
In the short term, the hospital will receive an independent power source for the ward where the babies died. But until then, the ward has been linked to the intensive-care unit to ensure back-up power.
Spokesperson Portia Ncaba said the TAC will follow up to check whether the promises made regarding the independent power supply are adopted.
Meanwhile, the tragedy at Cecilia Makiwane is unlikely to occur in the Port Elizabeth metro area.
Freddie Rank, a clinical manager, confirmed that all hospitals in the city have back-up generators and that these are tested on a weekly basis by engineers. — Sapa