By Patience Lunda:
The absence of a dialysis machine at Mzuzu Central Hospital (MCH) is forcing patients with kidney disease in the Northern region to travel to the Central Region to access the service.
In the past nine months the hospital admitted 70 patients that required dialysis out of which 42 died.
A dialysis machine is used to filter waste products from the blood when kidneys are no longer able to perform their function.
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MCH has never had a dialysis machine since it started operating in the year 2000.
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In an interview, Mzuzu Central Hospital General Manager, John Chipolombwe, said the hospital is currently sourcing quotations for procurement of a dialysis machine.
Chipolombwe said the problem is unbearable for patients with chronic kidney disease because it requires that they should be on prolonged dialysis.
However, Chipolombwe said dialysis sessions on their own are expensive, recalling that one session was around K75,000 at some private hospitals in the country in the year 2010.
“Once we have managed to raise the needed amount of money, we should be having the dialysis but we are doing something to bring the dialysis to Mzuzu. Usually those patients that need dialysis for those that have acute kidney injury we send them to Lilongwe,” he said.
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According to the hospital, some patients require dialysis three times a week yet the hospital receives patients from all over the Northern Region who incur additional costs to get to Lilongwe.
Deputy Minister of Health, Noah Chimpeni, said the ministry will support the hospital to address the problem.
“The hospital has a lot of challenges mostly the lack of important things such as the dialysis machine. It’s as if it is just a central hospital by name but not operating as such level, so we will see how best we can come in and assist it,” he said.
Currently, Kamuzu Central Hospital and Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital are the only central hospitals that have dialysis machines.
