The Chief Medical Director of Yobe State University Teaching Hospital, Damaturu, Dr. Baba Waru Goni, has said the hospital has started offering free dialysis to citizens as directed by Yobe state governor, Ibrahim Gaidam.
In an interview with Daily trust on Tuesday in Damaturu, the CMD said the directive was complied with since January 2019 as against the public outcry that patients still suffer the brunt of the cost despite the governor’s directive.
He noted that the hospital has, within three months, registered 103 Yobe indigenes that are bedevilled with kidney failure and offered almost 100 dialysis sessions to them.
“So far, we have nearly had 100 sessions of free dialysis for Yobe indigenes, and you can verify that at the dialysis unit of the hospital,” he said.
Goni said before the implementation of the free dialysis, a committee was sent to Katsina state to borrow a leaf from their 17 years experience to ensure sustainability of the programme in Yobe.
He explained that the state government has also made approval for a team from the hospital to travel to Mansura in Egypt for a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for kidney transplant programme for patients in the state.
“People should know that dialysis is not an end in itself, when you start dialysis, you are using it as a bridge for the kidney transplant if a patient has end stage renal disease.
“You know how our patients are suffering; you need not less than N1.5million to N3 million for you to travel to India or Egypt to have transplant, and even at that, you must have family related donor before giving you visa to travel to these countries ,” he said.
He also revealed that the state ministry of health has set up a technical committee to find out the root causes of chronic kidney failure bedevilling citizens in the northern part of the state.
He said the committee comprises Public Health Department, Federal Ministry of Health, World Health Organisation (WHO), Nigeria Centre for Disease Control, adding that departments from University of Maiduguri and Ahmadu Bello University Zaria, were all involved in the research to get to the root of the problem.
“Initial finding from the preliminary report have shown that there is high rate of heavy metal in the soil and water of the affected areas, and if we can demonstrate that in the blood of the people in those communities as well as to establish the causality, then we can seek for intervention from the federal government or the international community,” he added.