Queen II replacement nears completion

LINEO MABEKEBEKE

MASERU – The construction of Maseru District Hospital has reached an impressive 90 percent completion, while landscaping and road sub-base construction are at 60 percent, with grass seeding in progress. According to the minister of finance and Development Planning, Dr. Retšelitsoe Matlanyane, the installation of medical equipment has reached approximately 75 percent, and furniture is in transit, expected to arrive on-site in January.

The hospital is on track for full completion in March 2024, with operations scheduled to commence in April 2024. This, Matlanyane revealed during the mid-term budget speech to the Parliament for the 2023–2024 fiscal year this week. According to the Chinese Ambassador to Lesotho, Lei Kezhong, the construction of Maseru District Hospital and Eye Clinic is expected to be complete by the end of this year, with operations set to begin in the first quarter of 2024.

Kezhong said the hospital will provide advanced medical services to patients and improve the livelihoods of Basotho. The important project is being funded through a grant from the People’s Republic of China. On completion, it is expected to help at least 400,000 people in Maseru and other districts.

It will provide services including eye care, cancer treatment, tuberculosis (TB), HIV, and non-communicable diseases. The hospital, featuring state-of-the-art medical equipment, will also have training facilities and dormitories for trainee doctors and nurses.

Since the hospital is being constructed under Chinese government aid, a Chinese construction company, Shanghai Construction Company, has been commissioned to build the facility. Speaking during the launch of the project in February 2021, the then prime minister, Dr. Moeketsi Majoro, said the facility would provide improved health services, mainly the treatment of both communicable and non-communicable diseases.

He said the 200-bed hospital would be a modern facility operating as the second referral hospital after Queen ‘Mamohato Memorial Hospital (QMMH), relieving the latter of its ever-increasing patient load. Once completed, employees of the Queen Elizabeth II Hospital, currently operating from the Basotho Enterprise Development Corporation (BEDCO), were promised to be absorbed as employees of this hospital and be complemented by the Chinese Medical Team, which is currently based at the Motebang Hospital in Leribe.