The Minister of Health Honorable Nkaku Kabi says China donated funds to Lesotho for the construction of a ten storey building of the new Maseru Hospital, which will be placed on the premises of Queen Elizabeth II Hospital in Maseru.

He said the construction of the new hospital should have started long time ago, but they met challenges when they had to break down the walls of Queen Elizabeth II Hospital.

He said the government would provide money for them to start breaking down the walls, but the financial year would end before they start working.

He further said in the following financial year, they would find that they have to increase the money provided in the previous financial year, and this ended with China threatening to take its funds to other countries.

Honorable Kabi pointed out that the feasibility studies were conducted at Queen Elizabeth II Hospital, and when they were about to break down the hospital buildings, contractors demanded M28 000 000 from the Ministry of Public Works and Transport, and this delayed their work and also increased their chances of losing the funding from China.

He said for this reason they are planning to hire Basotho men, to break down Queen Elizabeth II Hospital building with hammers, without machinery starting by removing the roofs of the buildings.