Ray of hope for renal patients

Of all the major afflictions known to man, perhaps it is kidney disease and its related issues that have been able to cross over from our hospitals, into mainstream media and subsequently into the political space in the most emphatic manner in contemporary times. 

Last year, there were several media reports of a crisis in our hospitals regarding a shortage of dialysis machines, with www.myjoyonline.com reporting on October 2 that according to the Renal Patients Association of Ghana, fourteen of its members passed away between May and September 2023 while at the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital.

The Dialysis Unit of the hospital has also suffered from closures at some point. In September 2023, hospital authorities raised the cost of renal dialysis from GH¢380 to GH¢765.42, sparking a huge outcry. As of June 2023, the total number of active machines for the country’s population of 32 million was under 400.

All these came to a head in drawing public attention to a health crisis as dialysis treatment (or lack thereof) took centre-stage this year in the media, with government receiving huge public backlash.

The landscape

Kidney failure is becoming quite a common global phenomenon, principally as a result of lifestyle issues. This includes uncontrolled blood pressure, diabetes and consumption of alcohol as well as all manner of aphrodisiacs. The mercury levels found in galamsey activities here in Ghana and elsewhere also have a bearing on kidney complications.

In Ghana, the prevalence of Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) stands at 13.3 per cent, at 15.8 per cent in Sub-Saharan Africa, and between 10 and 13 per cent globally. As CKD progresses into kidney failure, dialysis treatment becomes essential as an artificial measure to treat patients and save lives.

Interventions to address kidney disease include transplants, which means an active organ donation culture, but that has not quite caught up in this country.

Notwithstanding this, I understand that Professor Vincent Boima, Consultant Renal Physician and Head of the Nephrology Unit at the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital, is working on a Draft Transplant Bill to be forwarded to Parliament in a bid to formulate laws around kidney transplants for regulatory purposes.

Centre of excellence

With this grim landscape and its attendant anxiety for renal patients, it was quite a delight to learn the other day that the President had inaugurated a new Urology and Nephrology Centre of Excellence at the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital.

The background to this centre, as captured in parts on the website of the hospital thus, is telling.

‘In August 2005, the nation mourned the tragic loss of three top-notch urologists from Korle Bu Teaching Hospital: Prof J.K.M Quartey, Dr Isaac Bentsi and Dr Benjamin Osei-Wiafe.

The three who died were among four senior doctors who were returning from a medical outreach service in Sunyani. The fourth person, Prof. George Kluffio survived and is alive and well…’

‘Following their burial, a visionary plan was set in motion to immortalise their memory. This took shape in the form of the construction of a world-class Urology and Nephrology Centre of Excellence…

The committee diligently worked to secure financial backing, successfully persuading the Ministry of Finance to allocate funds for the preparatory works for the centre’s construction in the 2007 budget…’

‘However, political transitions disrupted and caused a lull in the process towards realising the vision. The transition somewhat marked the end of the first attempt to construct a centre in honour of the team that got involved in the accident.’

Commendations

With a total expenditure of over GH¢33 billion, the Akufo-Addo government has made remarkable strides in improving healthcare infrastructure across Ghana, and this centre is one of such interventions.

The Health Minister, Dr Oko Boye, who worked hard to get World Bank sponsorship of the dialysis part of the project, deserves huge commendation, as do Dr Ampomah, the immediate past CEO, Dr Frank Owusu Sekyere, the Acting CEO of the hospital, and Dr Dan Asare, a former CEO who persuaded the Ministry of Health to resurrect this project and invest in others, including the new maternity block at the hospital.

The centre, constructed by Vamed, the globally leading integrated supplier for hospitals and other healthcare institutions, has a capacity for 30 new dialysis machines, which have been procured.

Once they are fully installed and operational, this will mean a threefold increase in the facilities available to patients, and with plans to expand into the regional hospitals.

HealthTech Ghana Limited, a leading medical device and consumables supplier to some of the major hospitals in Ghana, provided the relevant dialysis technology.

The fully Ghanaian-owned company is also the exclusive distributor for Baxter (USA) Dialysis and consumables in Ghana and will be providing the consumables for the machines, handle maintenance and support as well as clinical and technical training of Korle-bu in-house staff.

I understand the company is also providing dedicated biomedical engineers to be stationed at Korle-bu for the lifetime of the machines.

Health is wealth

While this centre is a great intervention in our health sector, I believe we must give renewed focus to preventive measures in the first place because it is cheaper in the long run.

For instance, making health screening available for free on the National Health Insurance Scheme for risk groups, together with intensive public education and stronger regulation of herbal and other concoctions on the market will go a long way to enhance prevention.

Our health is our collective wealth and we must keep doing more to bring affordable, efficient health care to our citizens. It is a call to action we simply cannot afford to ignore. 

Rodney Nkrumah-Boateng,
Head, Communications & Public Affairs Unit,
Ministry of Energy.
E-mail: rodboat@yahoo.com