Ntsebeng Motsoeli
MASERU — Queen Elizabeth II Hospital resumed services after a two-year closure last Monday.
The 100-year-old referral hospital was closed after its premises were rendered unusable due to age and disrepair.
However, this time around the hospital will only house the maternal and child health departments following intense cleaning in some of the buildings.
Queen Elizabeth II Hospital transferred all services to the new multi-million maloti Queen ‘Mamohato Memorial Hospital, which was established through a public-private partnership agreement between the government and Net-Care of South Africa.
The old facility, which for generations was the country’s largest hospice, offers ante natal care as well as Prevention of Mother-To-Child Transmission of HIV and Aids services to pregnant women.
It also offers post-natal care for mothers and their infants, family planning, immunisation and nutritional services for children under the age of five.
Health Minister Pinkie Manamolela told a media briefing last week that the objective of re-opening the facility was to reduce the congestion of people seeking similar services from other clinics around Maseru.
“We want all pregnant mothers to get the care they need and for those who have tested HIV positive to be put on lifelong treatment,” Manamolela said.
“After birth, mothers and their children should get services. Infants from HIV positive mothers should get tested after six weeks from birth. Those who test positive should immediately be enrolled onto anti-retroviral treatment.”
Ministry of Health information officer, ‘Mateboho Mosebekoa, said more than 30 people have acquired the antenatal care and family planning services in the past three days.
“The response has been good,” Mosebekoa said. “People have come from as far as Ha-Makhoathi bypassing other clinics to avoid long queues.”
She said the ministry will re-open other facilities gradually when enough money has been secured to renovate the buildings.
Comments are closed.