The government of Lesotho through the Ministry of Health has vowed to honour its agreement with the Christian Health Association (CHAL) of paying the due subventions to the facilities every year.

The Minister of Health, Mr. Selibe Mochoboroane said that the meeting between the parties was fruitful. This comes after CHAL had voiced out its concerns about the government’s failure to adhere to the agreement for years. He said they reached the conclusion that they should go back to the agreement, which said that the government through the Ministry would pay 80 percent while its partners pay the remaining 20 percent.

Mr. Mochoboroane added it parties agreed that there will be an adjustment on subventions every year in order to address costs, which CHAL might incur, and the purpose of the subvention is to pay officials at CHAL’s health centres, as well as buying medical supplies and day to day running of the facilities.

He indicated that it was clear that the government came across a challenge in 2022 when the government increased all civil servant’s salaries by 5 percent. He said the move did not adjust CHAL’s subvention with the same percentage, therefore leaving the facilities’ official’s salaries not adjusted. The main challenge of service delivery came up because CHAL employees felt they were being discriminated against.

Furthermore, he said that amidst the challenge he was aware that there were still talks between the government and CHAL to try to solve the issue. However, recently after realizing that the facilities have released new prices, they held talks whereby both parties reminded each other that their agreement has not changed and therefore it will be a mistake to force Basotho to pay a lot of money for health facilities.

CHAL is an established partner of Global Ministries, founded in 1863. The association has six member churches and serves eight hospitals and 70 health centres.

The mission of CHAL is to develop the highest quality and widest distribution of health services in Lesotho by providing health care through their hospitals and health centres.

CHAL works in urban areas as well as rural communities and distant outposts. The Christian Health Association of Lesotho provides one-third of the health care to the country