Dialysis equipment lies idle in government hospitals Wednesday, 16 January 2008 13:19
HARARE-DIALYSIS equipment that was brought into the country from overseas last year is still lying idle at state hospitals while renal patients are forking out huge sums of money every week to access treatment at a private hospital in Harare.
Several government hospitals have been hard-hit by massive exodus of specialists citing poor salaries as well as poor working conditions.The Renal Services of Zimbabwe has appealed to the relevant authorities to finalise with the suppliers, the paperwork, which is delaying the commissioning of the equipment.In 2006 government initiated the bringing in of at least 80 dialysis machines from abroad and these were distributed to state run hospitals bearing in mind the geographical set up.Mpilo hospital in the south region got 20 machines and in the north, Harare where the majority of referral patients are sent got 40 machines, with 20 of them being set up at Harare hospital and the other 20 at Parirenyatwa. Chitungwiza received the remaining 18 machines while Masvingo, Gweru and Mutare were expected to be catered for soon. However, all the machines are still lying idle at the four state run hospitals while renal patients are travelling as far as Bulawayo to access treatment at the private Harare Hemodialysis centre. Chairman of Renal Services of Zimbabwe Dr Obediah Moyo said "despite efforts by the Ministry of Health and Child Welfare to have the machines installed as a matter of urgency, delays by the supplier to finalise the paperwork is hampering their use," he said.
A patient on hemodialysis requires at least 13 hours of treatment per week which translates to about an average of at least 4˝hrs on the machine at a time.Dr Moyo who is also the Chief Executive Officer of Chitungwiza hospital said the country is recording increased cases of renal failure due to several conditions like hypertension which constitutes about a third of renal patients. When the dialysis unit at Parirenyatwa hospital was still operating an average of 60 patients could be attended to on a daily basis. The procedure involves the cleaning and filtering of blood, getting rid of harmful wastes and extra salt and fluids. It also controls blood pressure and helps your body keep the proper balance of chemicals such as potassium, sodium, and chloride. - CAJ News.
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