{UAH} Pojim/WBK: Magufulication!!! Muhimbili soon ready for kidney transplant - News | The Citizen
|
1:49 PM |
No comments |
Muhimbili soon ready for kidney transplant - News
Dar es Salaam. The Muhimbili National Hospital (MNH) yesterday announced it will start performing kidney transplant locally in the next six months.
The move is part of the government's plan to cut down the number of patients travelling abroad for treatment.
The announcement comes as a great relief for thousands of patients who have been diagnosed with kidney failure across the country.
Briefing journalists on '100 Days of President John Magufuli in Office', the MNH director, Prof Lawrence Museru, said that the hospital's revenue collections had increased by 60 per cent—hitting a Sh4 billion mark monthly, up from Sh2.7 billion over the past three months. This, according to him, meant that the hospital was poised for the ambitious project.
Statistics by the World Health Organisation (WHO) shows about 4,533 Tanzanians died of kidney failure in 2011.
However, medical experts warned that the number has significantly gone higher by during the intervening period due to increased lifestyle changes.
Prof Museru told reporters that MNH was now focusing on kidney ailments, after it made big strides in treating heart complications using ultra-modern facilities at the Jakaya Kikwete Cardiac Institute.
Head of the Cardiac Institute, Prof Mohammed Janabi said last year alone the facility had treated more than 96 per cent of cardiac cases which would have otherwise been referred to India for specialised surgery.
A recent report has ranked Tanzania second after Nigeria among top seven African countries whose nationals visited India for treatment annually.
At least 23,345 Tanzanians travelled to India in 2013, the report says.
Over 18 per cent of those who went to India, are reported to have gone for medical purposes, notes the report entitled "India Africa Partnership in Healthcare: Accomplishments.'' The country spends between Sh151.5 and Sh173.2 billion annually on specialised treatment in the Asian country, according to a statement issued in November last year by a prominent Indian hospital, on its relationship with Tanzania.
The Apollo Group of Hospitals said the money spent by Tanzania was mostly on treatment of non-communicable diseases (NCDs), such as heart complications and Chronic Kidney Diseases (CKD) which are increasingly becoming a huge burden on the shoulders of the national healthcare system.
Researchers and healthcare planers argue that, with political will, the NCDs— specifically heart diseases— can be entirely treated locally and the money that was being spent on foreign treatment could be saved. This, according to them, can help the government to focus on building new health infrastructure and strengthening the existing ones.
The MNH director yesterday vowed to put an end to unnecessary referrals for patients for treatment abroad, as he highlighted the achievements of his leadership over the past 100 days since he was appointed by President Magufuli as the new boss at the country's premier health facilities. "We (the hospital authority) have realised that kidney failure was the second reason—
after heart diseases—that takes patients abroad," said Prof Museru, added: "We now want to put an end to all the factors that push people to seek referrals to foreign countries—especially to India.''
More patients with end-stage kidney disease will also have more access to palliative treatment through artificial cleansing of their blood (renal dialysis) as they wait for the kidney transplant surgeries.
"The hospital has increased the number of beds for providing dialysis services from 23 to 50. This means that patients who suffer chronic kidney failure can also be treated temporarily here at the facility before arrangements are made for their transplant surgery," he noted.
Prof Museru said the MNH has been able to raise its internal revenue collections from Sh2.7 billion to Sh4 billion, and according to him, this means that the hospital would be able to fund most of the crucial projects that are aimed at improving the quality of healthcare for Tanzanians. However, MNH was now struggling with a debt of about Sh5.7 billion, which it owes to various contractors on some of the developmental projects, said the Hospital's Finance and Planning Director, Mr Gerald Jeremiah.
Mr Jeremiah noted that the hospital was now setting its long-term and short-term plans to completely get rid of the debt crisis. "We now want to make sure that we clear all the debts and start a new era of focusing on developmental projects,'' he told journalists.
0 comments:
Post a Comment