The renal unit at the Ho Teaching Hospital, which serves the Volta, Eastern, and Oti regions, as well as neighbouring West African countries, is facing a severe shortage of dialysis machines.
Currently, the unit only has five working machines, sometimes even dropping to four, leading to immense pressure on the staff to meet the high demand for services.
Dr Jerry Doe, the head of the unit, speaking to Citi News, stressed the urgent need for expansion and improvement of the facility to cope with the overwhelming demand and alleviate the burden on healthcare workers.
He explained the limited number of machines is particularly challenging for patients on chronic dialysis, who struggle with the financial costs involved.
Some patients have had to forego treatment due to financial constraints, receiving dialysis infrequently or not at all.
The shortage of machines has also led to operational challenges, with the unit unable to provide 24/7 service and facing space constraints that limit the number of patients they can accommodate.
Dr. Doe added that the procurement of necessary logistics such as bloodlines and cattiness has been a struggle, causing delays in patient care.
Dr. Doe highlighted the need for space expansion to accommodate more machines and patients, as well as a consistent supply of essential logistics to improve service delivery.
While efforts have been made to address these challenges and progress has been observed in procurement processes, more support is needed to ensure the unit can effectively meet the growing demand for dialysis services.
“Currently we have five functioning machines. And usually, you know, dialysis is a procedure which takes over their filtration and then the excretion aspect of their kidney. And so we usually will counsel the patients, especially those on chronic dialysis, about the cost involved.
“And as they enrol, then we continue to see them over. We’ve had clients that have been on dialysis for some years now, others along the line.”
“Because of financial challenges, they are not able to continue. They may have to do dialysis once a week, or sometimes they don’t turn up at all. And the increasing number of clients that we are seeing is giving us a toll on our hands.
“At present, we don’t run a 24/7 service, but we wake up at about 08:00 from Monday to Friday, and the weekends are reserved for emergencies. We are having a challenge with space.”
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