(MENAFN- The Post)
MASERU – Blue Cross Society Lesotho has shut down its rehabilitation centre in Thaba-Bosiu after it failed to resolve a seven-year stand-off with the Ministry of Health over the issue of funding.
What this means is that Lesotho no longer has a rehabilitation centre for drug and alcohol addicts.
The future of thousands of youths who relied on the centre is now in peril following a surge in addiction cases over the last few years as a direct result of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The government does not have its own rehabilitation centre and there are no private facilities offering similar services countrywide.
Even church-owned health facilities or any other organisations run by the churches do not have any similar services anywhere in the country.
The Blue Cross, which relied on the Ministry of Health for all the rehabilitation centre's financial needs, said it will never try to mend its ruined relations with the ministry again.
It said it was deeply hurt by its divorce from the Ministry of Health but is not willing to mend the marriage.
The two have quarreled over finances since 2015.
The Health Ministry wanted Blue Cross to subject itself to an audit by the government with the ministry controlling how it uses the funds allocated to it.
Blue Cross however rejected the request citing its operational independence.
Speaking at a press conference on Tuesday, the Blue Cross chairman, Neo Shoaepane, said the society“will no longer seek help from the Health Ministry as they consider the Blue Cross worthless or beneath consideration”.
Shoaepane further said the government was not fair to their institution as they had been failing to help them.
The Blue Cross, Shoaepane said, felt that the Ministry sought to indirectly declare the Thaba-Bosiu Rehabilitation Centre as one of its departments.
“It was not easy to reach this decision,” Shoaepane said.
He said this decision had to be reached“in order to protect the dignity or image of the institution that has been dragged through the mud for a very long time by the Health Ministry”.
The ministry has in the past argued that it needed to look into Blue Cross financials to ensure that funds were not misused.
Shoepane said the institution still loves Basotho“amid this raining condition” and said they are still seeking help in order to reopen the centre.
He said he strongly believes that they will be helped.
Thabo Mokhutšoane, a director at the Thaba-Bosiu Rehabilitation Centre, said they have tried everything to get help.
First, they to tried to seek help from the former deputy prime minister, Monyane Moleleki, the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), parliament's Social Cluster (SC) and the Petitions Committee (PC) but all of them failed to help them.
Mokhutšoane said it was sad that nobody was noticing the good work they were doing over the years.
“I am very disappointed with the government of Lesotho for failing to help us,” Mokhutšoane said.
He said the Thaba-Bosiu Rehabilitation Centre belongs to Basotho,“they own it and they must work hard to make sure that it operates again”.
“As Blue Cross we are deeply hurt because we are the only rehab in the country that focuses on helping addicts to get better,” he said.
“We believed everyone understood our work because we played a vital role in the country.”
Mokhutšoane said even the equipment in the rehab centre is getting damaged because of not being used.
Lemohang Tšehla
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