Uganda Kidney Foundation in sh568m plan for treatment centres

Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | The Uganda Kidney Foundation is seeking an allocation of sh568 million to run a Kidney Centre in every Regional Referral Hospital across the country.

Dr Joseph Gyagenda, the Chairperson of the Foundation says that kidney diseases remain silently ignored by the government with only two dialysis centres, one in Kiruddu Hospital and the other in Mbarara Hospital.

Gyagenda made the statements during a press conference ahead of the Parliament Health Week that kicks off Tuesday. During the week, free kidney screening services will be offered to the general public among other things.

He noted that the country has only eight kidney specialists, who can only handle 0.5 per cent of kidney ailment cases, given the shortage of dialysis centres and the high cost of treatment. Kidney treatments cost up to three million shillings if detected early. Gyagenda called upon the government to increase financing in order to train more kidney specialists and set up regional kidney care centres across the country.

Parliament’s Health Committee Chairperson Esperanza Baguma also expressed concern about the lack of dialysis services for children in the country. She notes that any child who is diagnosed with kidney failure and does not have funds to be referred abroad is condemned to die.

Baguma equally called for more funding for treatment of the disease and also training of more doctors in the same field.