Africa-Press – Lesotho. In an effort to help in the fight against Covid-19, Metropolitan Lesotho, on Monday handed over Intensive Care Unit (ICU) equipment to Christian Health Association Lesotho (CHAL) hospital – Seboche Mission.
The equipment is inclusive of ventilator machines, Pulse oxymeter, foot suction and others to be used to treat Covid-19 patients. Seboche Mission Hospital Medical Superintendent Dr. Emmanuel Nyondo thanked Metropolitan Lesotho for the equipment.
He emphasized that before the donation of the ICU equipment, they were treating Covid-19 patients in a ward called High Dependency Unit which provides breathing machinery before patients are transferred to highly equipped centres like Berea Hospital.
He however, said the equipment donated requires human resource to operate and the hospital is in dire need for such. Nyondo said the other challenge is a means of transport owing to the bad road conditions, “especially when transporting patients”.
“It becomes very difficult for us to get to other hospitals on time while transporting very critical patients because the road is bumpy and poor,” he said.
He noted that they also lack infrastructure hence lack of isolation facilities for Covid-19 patients. He called for the Ministry of Health (MoH) and other stakeholders to extend a helping hand.
CHAL acting Executive Director Libete Selapane said this kind of support makes a great contribution to their work. He added that their task is to ensure that health services are provided especially during this critical time when the world is faced with heath challenges.
“We need to have enough doctors and nurses to fight this pandemic and we also need equipment,” he insisted. Selapane said now that they have equipment, they will be able to save the lives of people who experience difficulty in breathing due to Covid-19.
He pleaded with Seboche hospital health workers to deliver services now that the equipment is there and take care of it in the process. Metropolitan Lesotho Managing Director (MD) Mamello Phomane said all they do is to play their part in fighting this deadly pandemic as they saw how it has killed people in other countries.
“We noticed the possibility of the same alarming deaths to Basotho and we sat together and reached a decision to form a relief programme to assist,” she said.
Phomane added that this is not the only hospital to benefit from the programme as they are also going to donate to Paray hospital and Scott hospital. She said generally, the equipment cost over M2 million.
On behalf of the Government of Lesotho, MoH Deputy Minister Hon. Nto Moakhi thanked Metropolitan Lesotho for offering a helping hand and assisting the government of Lesotho and its citizens with the equipment.
Moakhi further said this act is an eye opener to other companies and organizations. “We are very proud of Metropolitan Lesotho because it has been doing a lot of charity work in our country,” he added.
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