Ms. Nancy Abedi, a Dialysis Nurse at the International Maritime Hospital (IMaH), has called on the Government to work together with stakeholders to provide subsidies that will make treatment of kidney diseases affordable.
She said currently a session of dialysis costs between GHs500.00 and GHC600.00, and a patient needed at least three dialyses in a week to flush out the toxins and extra water from the system since the kidneys could not do so on their own.
Ms. Abedi stated at the weekly “Your Health! Our Collective Responsibility!, A Ghana News Agency initiative, aimed at promoting communication on health-related topics and setting the medium for the propagation of health information to influence personal health choices by improving literacy
“Your Health! Our Collective Responsibility! is a public health advocacy platform initiated to explore the parameters of the four approaches to health communication: informative, educating, persuasive, and prompting.
Speaking on the topic of “Kidney Disease,” Ms Abedi also revealed that the number of dialysis machines available for the management of patients in the country was inadequate.
Also, most regions do not have dialysis centres to cater for patients, making some people to travel long distances to access care.
She said, for instance, that it was just until recently that the Volta Region had one centre, while the Eastern Region and others did not have any at all.
Ms. Abedi revealed that currently, the Tema area had five Dialysis centres, which were all privately owned, and added that due to the cost involved in running the machine, which operates on electricity, and water treatment plants, dialysis management of patients was very expensive.
The IMaH Dialysis Nurse appealed to the Government and health institutions to consider providing at least one dialysis centre in every region to provide the needed care for patients in the area.
Mr. Francis Ameyibor, Ghana News Agency Tema Regional Manager, appealed to corporate institutions, and philanthropists to consider adopting district hospitals and providing support to set up dialysis centres.
“Helping to improve the health delivery system when one has the capacity is a noble cause as you may not know when you will be in need, and the critical issue is that saving a life is a godly obligation of all mankind,” Mr Ameyibor stated.
