As Nigeria joins the rest of the World today to mark this year’s World Kidney Day, patients living with chronic kidney diseases have lamented the high cost of treatment.
They called for expansion of the federal government’s newly launched subsidised dialysis treatment programme to all states.
The theme for this year’s World Kidney Day 2025 is “Are Your Kidneys OK? Detect Early, Protect Kidney Health,” emphasising the importance of early detection and proactive kidney care.
The high cost of treatment of chronic kidney diseases and kidney failure such as dialysis as well as the out-of-pocket expenditure makes treatment beyond the reach of many Nigerians.
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Families of patients said many people affected died because they abandoned dialysis completely or reduced the number of prescribed sessions as a result of lack of funds.
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu had, last year, approved an 80% subsidy on kidney dialysis, reducing the cost from N50, 000 to N12, 000 per session across 12 federal medical institutions in the country to ease financial strains on patients and their families.
Patients narrate ordeal
Fifty eight-year-old Mamman Sani said he had been suffering from the disease for nearly three years, spending a lot of money on dialysis three times a week.
He said: “So many people cannot cope because once you have chronic kidney disease, you cannot do without dialysis. Imagine someone on a monthly salary of N300,000 who needs to spend N53,000 for each session of dialysis, you are spending about N159,000 a week. So, it is a very expensive disease.”
Sani, who spoke from his dialysis bed, said the more dialysis patients do, the weaker they become.
Sani commended the federal government for subsidising the dialysis cost, saying it would save lives.
He implored the government to find out the root cause of the ailment and address it, especially in the North-east where it is prevalent, insisting that other countries succeeded in the fight against the disease by improving their healthcare system.
Another patient undergoing dialysis, 44-year-old Azubuike Akaeze said he had been battling the disease for the last two years.
“I face difficulty coping. Sometimes, I get assistance from family and friends, but most of the time I raise the money for my dialysis. I thank God for the recent subsidy for dialysis. Yes, I paid N12,000 at AKTH (after subsidy) and bought Heparin injection at the cost of N5,280 that was not provided,” Akaeze said.
He appealed to the government to continue subsidising the cost of dialysis and if possible, make it free .
Musa Adamu, a 46-year-old farmer, told Daily Trust that he relies on herbal treatment. However, three months ago, the herbs he had been using failed to alleviate the pain.
‘‘I sought help at the Yobe State Specialist Hospital in Gashua and was referred to the Yobe State Teaching Hospital. There, I received the devastating news that my two kidneys were failing.
“They told me to visit the hospital every week, but I can’t afford that. I only go for dialysis when the pain becomes unbearable. I am just waiting for my time,” Adamu lamented.
Fatima Haruna told Daily Trust that she was diagnosed of kidney failure at the Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital ( AKTH).
‘‘We spent over N10 million on treatment and related issues; friends and family mostly donated the funds. I initially used supplements, but they were ineffective,” she added.
Dr Onyekachi Ifudu, a nephrologist described chronic kidney disease (CKD) as a condition in which kidney damage occurs gradually over a long period and can lead to permanent kidney failure.
“When this happens, the kidneys fail to filter your blood as needed and the wastes that are normally excreted in the urine accumulate in your blood,” he said.
He explained that hemodialysis, also known as dialysis, is the artificial filtering of the blood by a machine to replace the work that damaged kidneys cannot do.
“The patient is connected to a dialysis machine, which filters your blood and returns it to the body. Usually performed for about four hours, three times a week,” he added.
Burden of kidney diseases in Nigeria
The president of the Nephrology Association of Nigeria (NAN), Prof. Jacob Olugbenga Awobusuyi, said chronic kidney disease is a silent epidemic in Nigeria, affecting millions of people due to factors such as hypertension, diabetes, infections and genetic predisposition.
He said studies estimate that the prevalence of the disease in Nigeria ranges between 10% and 12%, with many cases going undiagnosed until they reach advanced stages.
“A study published in BMC Nephrology revealed that 90% of chronic kidney disease patients in Nigeria die within 90 days of starting dialysis due to financial constraints and inadequate healthcare infrastructure,” he said.
He said there are 126 dialysis centres in Nigeria, but that there is no adequate data on the number of people on dialysis in the country.
However, he said the association’s renal registry committee recorded about 8, 000 entries last year, which is grossly inadequate, because many centres did not submit data.
How FG’s subsidised dialysis initiative can work-Experts
In January, the Minister of State for Health and Social Welfare, Iziaq Salako, said the government had, in 2024, commenced the initiative to reduce the cost of dialysis in 12 federal tertiary health institutions in the country.
The facilities are: the Federal Medical Centre (FMC), Lagos; the University College Hospital (UCH), Ibadan; the Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital (AKTH); the University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital (UMTH), Maiduguri; the Federal Medical Centre (FMC), Abeokuta; the University of Benin Teaching Hospital (UBTH), Benin; the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH), Lagos; the Federal Medical Centre (FMC), Abuja; the Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University Teaching Hospital (ATBUTH), Bauchi; the Federal Medical Centre (FMC), Owerri; the Federal Medical Centre (FMC), Azare and the University of Calabar Teaching Hospital (UCTH), Calabar.
Findings revealed that the launch of the subsidised treatment in the various hospitals commenced in phases, with some of them yet to commenced implementation.
Prof Aliyu Abdu, a nephrologist at the Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital, said the initiative “has changed the way we manage our patients and we hope that the government will sustain it. A lot of patients that cannot afford are now able to afford the services.”
Asked how the government can sustain the initiative, he said: “They should put it under a unit in the Federal Ministry of Health that will be responsible for supervising the success of the programme. Otherwise, if you leave it in the hands of the chief medical directors of the various institutions, it may not be sustained.
“There must also be a budget line for it every year because of continuous funding. If it is not captured in the budget, there will be a year that they cannot do it. There should also be proper supervision on how the consumables are utilised by the benefiting institutions.”
Another expert, who craved anonymity, said dialysis is still a problem in Nigeria because of lack of skilled medical professionals and care givers.
He said it was time Nigeria asked itself why people live on dialysis for up to 30 years in other countries and cannot live for 10 years in Nigeria even when they have the funds and do the required sessions.
The president of the Nigerian Association of Nephrology, Prof. Awobusuyi, said the initiative is a step in the right direction and a work in progress.
Awobusuyi, who is also the president of the Transplant Association of Nigeria, said the benefits is that more patients are now able to go for dialysis more frequently, less likely to have complications, less likely to be admitted and more likely to be able to afford some other drugs for blood pressure, anemia, among others.
Dr Olalekan Olatise, a consultant nephrologist and Chief Medical Director of Zenith Medical and Kidney Centre, Abuja, lauded the initiative.
He called for the inclusion of private health facilities in the initiative to expand access to care for Nigerians.
Earlier, last year the Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Prof Muhammad Ali Pate, said the Federal Executive Council ( FEC) had approved the purchase of 7,887 dialysis consumables to enhance healthcare access for Nigerians with kidney diseases.
He said the consumables were distributed across seven federal tertiary hospitals.
231 patients benefit at ATBUTH
The Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University Teaching Hospital (ATBUTH), Bauchi, has commenced the federal government’s subsidised kidney dialysis programme.
Head of Public Relations Unit, ATBUTH, Usman Abdullahi Koli, in a telephone interview, said 231 patients had benefited from the programme.
Findings showed that the Federal Medical Centre, Azare, had not commenced the programme. A source at the hospital, said they had not received any official circular and consumables for the programme.
Meanwhile, there are indications of hope in Gashua town, Bade Local Government Area of Yobe State, as a team of medical experts and scientists embark on research to trace the root causes of the high burden of chronic kidney diseases in Yobe State as well as develop lasting solutions for the affected communities.
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