By ‘Majirata Latela
The multi-million Maloti park homes erected at the Basotho Enterprises Development Corporation (BEDCO) Sebaboleng site in Maseru have turned into white elephants lying in a state of disuse while the Queen Elizabeth II Hospital continues to be crowded with patients seeking health services.
The hospital operates in a small building in the area, making it impossible for patients, nurses and apparently doctors to adhere to the World Health Organisation (WHO) Covid-19 protocol of social distancing.
The M7.6 million park homes were supposed to be a temporary hospital for Queen II while the new M800 million Maseru District Hospital is being built by a Chinese firm Shanghai Construction Company.
It was in February 2020 when the ministry of health announced that the building of the park homes had already commenced but more than a year later the park homes are still lying unused making it impossible for the hospital to fully be operational.
On its visit on the temporary premises at Sebaboleng this week, theReporter observed the congestion which has been an everyday bitter pill to swallow for patients, nurses, doctors and the hospital administration.
Many of the patients were seen waiting outside the premises in groups; others sat on chairs outside the hospital. Those inside sat so close to each that social distancing was not practised, thereby posing more posing a danger of spreading the highly contagious virus.
Some of the patients who had come for services were seen basking in the sun with open wounds bleeding.
Nursing mothers also waited in the cold with their new-born babies despite the health ministry’s warning to the public to practice social distancing as another tool to avert the transmission of the deadly virus.
But in this setting it is not unusual for many patients, nurses, doctors and pharmacists to be crammed in one room.
Approached for comment, the health ministry’s spokesperson Tumisang Mokoai admitted it has been a long time since the structures have not been completed and that “now as it is the lives of the patients” are at risk.
“I have myself witnessed the congestion at that temporary hospital and it is true that it is very hard for the hospital to make people to observe Covid-19 protocols. Apart from people contracting Covid-19 from others, they are also at risk of contracting other communicable diseases from other patients because they all get services from under one roof,” he regretted.
theReporter newspaper has been informed by the ministry’s chief technical officer (estate management department), Mosilo Mosehle, that the erected park homes could not all fit into that space given the advice by disease control that the structures should not be so close to each for safety reasons.
“The site which was selected for the park homes could only accommodate nine park homes, so we need four more park homes to complete the number of those required by the hospital.
“The space where the remaining three park homes are to be erected has already been identified at Sebaboleng and, by June 2 2020, the park homes will have been completed.
“The reason why it took so long before the hospital could operate from the rest of structures is that there was some misunderstanding between the health ministry and the company that erected the shelters. The company eventually prohibited us from using them,” Mosehle said.
She said according to the agreement, the company was paid 60 percent of the total cost at the beginning of the project. Now, she added, the balance to be paid out to the company stands out at M1.550 million.
Although she could not detail any further, she said the company had sued the government and that the matter was agreed to be settled out of court.
The park homes should have been in use by November 2020 after a plan for completion in June last year.
The BRAVOPRO (Pty) Ltd company’s director and project manager, Rantsubise Matete said there has been a lot of drama going on with the park homes from the day of their completion.
He admitted a 60 percent stake was paid to the company but the wrangling began when it demanded the balance to be paid out.
“When we finished the nine park homes which fitted in the area we asked the ministry to pay us the remaining amount of money that was due to us but we realised that they were taking forever to find and fix the place where we were to erect other remaining park homes.
“We showed the ministry that we did our part and the delay was on their side resulting in us taking them to court. The ministry does not want to pay us and we have bills to settle. They are dragging their feet to avail us space to erect the remaining structures.
“We have been waiting for the platforms for five months. Now our patience is running out,” said Matete who completely denied the matter had been settled out of court.
He clarified that the company consulted with the former health minister Motlatsi Maqelepo who instructed the then principal secretary to issue payment.
Matete said it was possible that the structures were under threat of damage “because it is now more than a year since they have been unused.”
He said more plumbing works and ablution facilities were also to be made at the shelters in order to promote hand washing by patients and the hospital staff to protect against Covid-19 contraction.
“We are also still awaiting the ministry to also approve our appointment for adding more plumbing on the park homes because they have requested that due to Covid-19 people will need to wash hands more often and that meant adding more work to what we have delivered,” he said.
Recently, the Prime Minister Moeketsi Majoro said during a sod turning at the Maseru District Hospital and the Eye Clinic the facility would open its doors for health services in June 2023.
The hospital, according to Majoro, will operate as a referral for patients from the Queen ‘Mamohato Memorial Hospital (QMMH).
“Its existence will reduce overcrowding at QMMH,” Majoro said.
