Tokelo Khausela
MINISTER of Health, Selibe Mochoboroane, has welcomed the M3.4 billion allocated to his ministry, saying he was going to prioritise promoting primary healthcare throughout the country.
He spoke shortly after the Minister of Finance and Development Planning, Retṧelisitsoe Matlanyane, had tabled the national budget for the fiscal year 2024/2025.
The Health Ministry was last year allocated M3.2 billion, which means its allocation has been increased by M200 million.
Mr Mochoboroane said Lesotho had the second highest incidence of Tuberculosis (TB) in the world, estimated to be 724 cases per 100 000.
He said with the budget, his ministry would prioritize primary healthcare from the grassroots and work together with village health workers to ensure that health services were accessible to all communities.
“Lesotho needs to treat its own people and stop depending on other countries for medical services. We must change the narrative and we can achieve that by only prioritizing primary healthcare,” Mr Mochoboroane said.
“The allocation of the budget is acceptable but we have many challenges that we need to overcome. For Instance, to date we are still sending cancer patients to South African for treatment and we need to overcome that by increasing resources such as having doctors that specialize in cancer and by building a cancer speciality hospital.”
He said the Maseru District Hospital, whose construction was a donation from the Chinese government, was expected to be completed next month. It is poised to serve approximately 450 000 people.
Mr Mochoboroane said now that Maseru District Hospital would be opened soon, that would ease the burden on other health care facilities.
To achieve good results in the health sector, the ministry needed good workmanship. He admitted that his ministry had faced its share of challenges including shortage of doctors and non-payment of those doctors, however, he said the challenges had been addressed.
He said the ministry had even taken doctors to China to study to ensure that country had its own medical specialists.
“We also have three laboratories that have obtained international accreditation for adhering to global standards. The National laboratory is one of the laboratories that has obtained accreditation and the other one in Motebang Hospital as well as the one in Butha-Buthe Hospital. There are other laboratories which are going to be accredited but there are standards to be adhered to first,” Mr Mochoboroane said.
Dr Matlanyane said in her speech the government would prioritize community engagement in primary healthcare.
“We are going to prioritize community engagement in primary healthcare initiatives that present an opportunity for cost saving measures. That will be a measure to alleviate the burden on our healthcare system.
“Through proactive community involvement, we can identify local solutions to health sector challenges by leveraging the support of village health workers and local communities, and enhance the effectiveness of health education and preventive measures.”
