Nurses receiving training on using dialysis machines.
What you need to know:
An Arusha based church-run hospital has acquired the blood dialysis machines that will help clean the blood of those with dysfunctional kidneys or those who have developed some complications.
Arusha. People suffering from kidney failure need not worry over the huge cost of seeking treatment abroad or in neighbouring countries.
An Arusha based church-run hospital has acquired the blood dialysis machines that will help clean the blood of those with dysfunctional kidneys or those who have developed some complications.
“Installation of the machines has been completed and one need not go to Nairobi, Dar es Salaam or India for kidney checks,” Prof Mark Jacobson, the executive director of the Arusha Lutheran Medical Centre (ALMC) said yesterday.
He told journalists during a visit to the facility that the machines were acquired from India where many of the patients with kidney complications from Tanzania are often sent for blood dialysis and allied treatment.
Each of the machine cost about Sh100 million, he said, noting that ALMC was now one of the few hospitals in the country and probably the only one in the northern regions, offering blood dialysis services for people suffering from kidney failure.
“We are yet to start transplanting of kidneys because that is more complicated and would need a whole team of specialist doctors,” he elaborated.
Prof Jacobson said although medical complications associated with kidney failure were not very common in Tanzania compared with other diseases, they posed a big problem.
According to him, a recent survey indicated that about 30 people visit the hospital located in the heart of Arusha every month seeking treatment for their kidney failure.
