The Upper East Regional Dialysis Centre, to be situated at the Upper East Regional Hospital, when finally launched, will provide two essential services, according to Dr. Emmanuel Akatibo, the lead advocate for the establishment of the center.
These services include acute dialysis services and services for patients with end-stage renal failure. Dr. Akatibo made these comments when he spoke to Mark Smith on A1 Radio’s Day Break Upper East Show on Monday, December 11, 2023.
“We will be providing acute dialysis services for those who have acute kidney injuries. For those people, when you treat them two or three times, you can take them off the machines, their kidneys will recover, and they can live their normal lives. We would also be providing services to those who have developed what we call end-stage kidney disease, meaning they have to be on dialysis for life or until they are able to get a kidney donor. Those are the services we are going to be providing,” he said.
Dr. Akatibo explained that it is currently difficult to determine the exact number of patients living in the Upper East Region who would need dialysis services. This is because all patients have been going to the Tamale Teaching Hospital to seek services and care, “others too, we lost them along the way.”
When services officially begin, Dr. Akatibo explained that if there is a need for more doctors and nurses to be trained, that will happen. In the meantime, other health professionals have taken up the task themselves to train in this area.
Meanwhile, Before the close of the year, there is an almost certain likelihood that the dialysis center at the Upper East Regional Hospital will be operational. This is according to Dr. Emmanuel Akatibo, the lead advocate for the establishment of the dialysis center.
Dr. Akatibo made these comments when he spoke to A1 Radio’s Mark Smith on Monday, December 11, 2023.
According to Dr. Akatibo, three dialysis machines have been procured and transported to the region. One of the three machines was donated by the Asaase Foundation, while the other two were procured using funds raised through crowdfunding. Consumables, Dr. Akatibo said, would be procured before the close of the week.
Currently, slight construction and alteration work is being done on the building expected to house the centre; the delay is the only reason the team is unable to decide exactly when the launch of the facility will be.
Source: A1Radioonline.com|101.1MHz|Mark Kwasi Ahumah Smith|Ghana
