Mr. Kojo Baffour Ahenkorah, President of the Renal people Association of Ghana, has expressed concern that a lack of dialysis machines and their parts is negatively impacting people with renal-related problems.
He said the limited machines and increasing number of patients in need of care was a threat to the care provided for renal patients.
He noted that the various hospitals offering renal services are facing the harrowing prospect of being unable to provide life-saving treatment to all those requiring it due to a lack of machines.
Speaking on Frontline on Rainbow Radio 87.5FM, Mr. Baffour Ahenkorah said the dialysis machines and their parts are all imported, and because of that, when they develop faults, they would have to be imported.
He lamented that Korle-Bu, for instance, had shut down their dialysis facility for a period due to this challenge between 2023 and 2024.
The situation he stated was not the best and had led to the deaths of some of their members.
He expressed frustration over the government’s delayed response to clearing essential dialysis consumables stuck at the Tema Port.
According to Mr. Ahenkorah, the cost of treatment has become unbearably high due to the shortage of these vital supplies.
‘’The consumables, crucial for dialysis treatments, have been stuck at the Tema Port. We are appealing with the government officials, including the Health Minister, Dr. Bernard Okoe Boye, the Finance Ministry, and the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) boss, to intervene.’’
He said one needs not less than GHC1,000 for a week to be on the dialysis, excluding medications, a special diet, injections, and others.
Using himself as an example, he said suffering from a kidney problem is troubling since it comes at an expensive cost.
He said the support being provided for kidney problems for patients under 18 and pensioners was a step in the right direction, while the others would also get two sessions for free.
He was of the view that if the government puts in more efforts to support kidney patients it will go among way to reduce the financial burden on them.
“The support is good, but like Oliver Twist, we are asking for more,’’ he stated.
According to him, he has lost friendships because he occasionally relies on them for financial support, and he has also lost his mother and is unable to bury her owing to financial difficulties.
He concluded that he also lost his job with a bank because the bank informed him that they could no longer spend on him, so they gave him a severance package and laid him off.
By: Rainbowradioonline.com
