Affordable healthcare is is becoming scarce in Lesotho, where patients vie for drugs and go long distances to see a doctor.
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| Patients queue at a hospital in Lesotho's capital, Maseru. Across the country, it is becoming more difficult to find affordable healthcare. Photograph: Denis Farrell/AP Matebello Makhanya left her village of Ramabanta early in the morning and travelled 60km to Maseru, Lesotho's capital, in the hope of seeing a dentist at Queen Elizabeth II Hospital – the largest in the country – only to be told that it was about to be closed and dental services were no longer provided there. |
"I am very disappointed," she said from a queue outside a small private clinic in the city centre, explaining that initially she had been referred by her local clinic to a hospital about 20km away. "Upon arriving at that hospital, I was told that there is no dental anaesthesia and that the dentist is on leave."
Makhanya's story is echoed by many patients who have resorted to private clinics and pharmacies after struggling to be seen at both government health facilities and those run by the Christian Health Association of Lesotho (Chal), an organisation made up of six different churches that provides 40% of healthcare in the country.
Thabo was forced to go to a private doctor after failing to get drugs or a medical examination at either government or Chal health centres inMaseru. "I went to the government clinic because I was going to pay only 15 maloti ($2.14) but now I have to cough up 120 ($17.14)," he said.
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