Patients decry the high cost of treating kidney complications
What you need to know:
Kidney failure patients are protesting the rising cost due to the fact that they disrupt treatment and overall care of those who will low income
MORE INFORMATION: ABOUT RENAL OR KIDNEY FAILURE
Renal failure, also known as kidney failure, is a medical condition in which the kidneys fail to adequately filter waste products from the blood. The two main forms are acute kidney injury, which is often reversible with adequate treatment, and chronic kidney disease, which is often not reversible. In both cases, there is usually an underlying cause. The disease is mainly is determined by a decrease in glomerular filtration rate.
Dodoma. The high cost of haemodialysis service and shortage of hospitals capable of offering it in the country has raised concern among victims of kidney complications.
According to the medical officer in charge of the University of Dodoma’s Hemodialysis Unit, Dr Aloyce Mkindo, a kidney failure patient is required to undergo haemodialysis process three times a week and each treatment session costs about Sh350, 000.
This means a kidney patient needs Sh1,050,000 a week for the rest of his or her life. Some patients who visited Haemodialysis Unit at Udom on Monday appealed to the government to set a special programme to finance their treatment process as it was the case with HIV/Aids victims. They noted that due to high cost of kidney treatment and low number of health centres in the country, many patients who fail to raise money to pay for medical treatment are dying every day. For his part, Dr Mkindo underscored the need for the government to embark on a fresh bid to fight the disease. He recommended that the government to pursue the possibility of installing hemodialysis machines in all regional and district hospitals.
“As it is the case with Aids whereby patients are supplied with free ARVs, I believe the government can also look into how it can support kidney patients,” he said.
The medic stated that the kidney centre at Udom was the most well-equipped and staffed than any other centres offering such services in the country.
He said the centre was receiving a significant number of patients from nearly all regions in the country.
“The costs for undertaking haemodialysis are high because the machines and chemical reagents used in the process are very much expensive,” he clarified. Dr Janet Kapinga, another doctor at the centre, cautioned the public against excessive consumption of traditional herbs which she said were among the causes of kidney failure. “Excessive consumption of herbs is one of the major causes of kidney failure since man contain toxic materials that may lead to kidney complications. “More than 40 per cent of the kidney patients coming here have a tendency to use herbs.”
Ms Nazlin Kassam, 61, who was found by The Citizen receiving treatment at the centre appealed to the government to assist them financially, saying she had been incurring the cost of her treatment for five consecutive years now.
“A kidney failure patient is not allowed receive a kidney donated by a person outside his or her family. I have only few relatives here and all of them have their own health problems,” he said.
