The Director General in the Ministry of Health says services provided at Queen Elizabeth II hospital are still offered at the hospital premises as they have not been moved to Carewell clinic premises as yet.
Dr ‘Nyane Letsie said until now, they have only mounted the equipment at Carewell Clinic, saying as soon as logistics are completed they will move to the new place.
She assured Basotho that when Queen II closes shop, they will be notified through different media channels emphasising that until such time they should continue accessing services at Queen II.
This follows the government decision to resuscitate Queen Elizabeth II so that it becomes the Maseru district hospital and to ensure that it is refurbished from its current ailing condition so that Basotho would have access to better health services.
Meanwhile the ministry last month received M50 million worth of medical equipment from Indian Virobien Healthcare company. The equipment directly procured from the aforementioned company by the Ministry of Health comprises 10 electrocardiogram (ECG) machines, 150 patient monitors, 12 anaesthesia machines, 50 fluid and blood warmer, 50 flowmenter infusion pumps, and eight ultrasound 54D Doppler, oxygen generators, x-rays and multifunctional beds. This equipment is already being distributed to health facilities across the country.
The equipment comes amid the unnecessary loss of lives attributable to among others, the lack of adequate medical equipment in Lesotho’s health facilities. The procurement process was reported to have started in 2016 when the Ministry conducted a needs assessment to avail the necessary installation which only saw the light of day this year.
Queen II remains the first and oldest referral hospital in the city which has seen patients being transferred from the districts to the hospital which the society has complaint of offering poor services due to congestion.
This hospital was later salvaged by Queen Mamohato Memorial Hospital, the ultra-modern hospital which now operates as Lesotho’s referral hospital, thus taking patients who have been referred from different health centres in the country.
Source: LENA 10/07/2019