Kilifi Governor told to repair dialysis Machines

By Editor On Jul 16, 2024

By Antynet Ford

Kidney patients at the Malindi Sub County Hospital are staring at death following the collapse of dialysis machines at the health facility’s renal unit.

Fifty Kidney patients at the Malindi Sub County hospital are staring death after the collapse of seven dialysis machines at the facility.

With only one machine of the eight at the facility working, the health workers at the Malindi hospital have been forced to reduce the time a kidney patient stays at the machines from the usual four hours to two to accommodate more patients, according to the renal patients’ representatives.

“Kidney patient requires at least two four-hour dialysis sessions per week, but now each of us is forced to go through the process once a week, with each session lasting only two hours.” Stephen Angore, a kidney patient in Malindi stated.

Angore said most of the patients cannot afford the Sh12, 000 charged by private health facilities per session and they have been relying solely on the Malindi Sub County Hospital renal unit since the private facilities require cash payments.

“The private health facilities such as Tawfiq and Mephi hospitals require us to pay cash because they claim to have issues with the National Hospital Insurance Fund (NHIF), but we cannot afford the cash.” He said

The problem is reported to have started last year when five machines collapsed, forcing the county government to install three new ones, which have also broken down leaving only one.

The hospital management has been blamed for not servicing the machines, adding that the operational one does not have a dialyzer, rendering it ineffective.

Governor Gideon Mung’aro has been called to intervene and save the patients from imminent death as the patients are unable to sleep because they cannot breathe properly and their limbs were swollen.

Malindi Sub County Hospital Superintendent David Mang’omg’o has acknowledged the breakdown of the machines and problems at the renal unit noting that the process of fixing is on and would be completed by close of business today.