The National Assembly Social Cluster Portfolio Committee on Thursday toured the new and completed state of the art Maseru District Regional hospital.

The hospital which started offering outpatient services on Wednesday this week due to electricity problems. It will be officially opened on June 13.

In his remarks Chairperson of the committee Mr. Mokhothu Makhalanyane said that they are happy and satisfied that the facility has opened as outpatient as of Wednesday saying that by next week Lesotho Electricity Company has to make transformers available so that the hospital gets to full operation.

He said that he hopes that the services will not be like the old Queen II hospital saying that they are going to ensure that Basotho records the kind of services they get. He said that

Basotho should rejoice not only in the beauty of the hospital but the quality services as that will help in its growth.

He stated that there is a manual maintenance plan with which they will oversee intervals of maintenance services of hospital equipment.

On the other hand, Ministry of Health Principal Secretary Mrs. Moliehi Ntene said that they have already conducted an inventory for all the equipment available at the hospital so that they have proper records.

She said that the equipment installed at the hospital is of high quality to help cure different diseases but said that they might not be able to cure because they need efficient human resources.

She noted that for so many years they have been transferring patients to South Africa which she said is very costly therefore highlighting that career guidance is needed for secondary students on health-related courses.  

The new M800 million-hospital is a modern facility that intends to provide improved health services to Maseru residents and other districts, in particular services including eye care, cancer, tuberculosis (TB), HIV, and non-communicable diseases including telemedicine platforms.

The hospital also has training facilities and dormitories for trainee doctors and nurses and features some of the state-of-the-art medical equipment.

The 200-bed hospital construction by Chinese contractor, Shanghai Construction Company under Chinese government aid started in February 2021 and it is expected to benefit at least 400 000 people in Maseru and other districts.

The two other major projects which were funded by the Chinese government are the 91- kilometre Mpiti-Sehlabathebe Road and 80-megawatt Ramarothole Solar Power Plant which are financed through concession loans from the Exim Bank of China.