12,000 Kidney failures in Ghana each year

Dialysis Service Foundation (DSF) has appealed to corporate organisations and persons with resources to help support needy kidney patients.

According to the foundation, an average of 12,000 kidney failure cases are detected among Ghanaian patients every year.

Speaking at the launch of DSF fundraising, a board member of the foundation, Dela Herman Agbo indicated that DSF would provide subsidised or full dialysis treatment to needy members in the country.

The foundation is doing this "so that these patients will not be deprived of treatment due to financial difficulties”, he noted.

He stated that the foundation would also assist in researching for a cure for kidney diseases in Ghana.

Mr Agbo revealed that dialysis cost about GH?250 per session, adding that for patients with kidney failure, this was going to be a cost to be borne for a lifetime.

"Can you imagine what you can do with GH?250?" he questioned.

The foundation's research, he said, showed that 12 to 14 session of dialysis is needed each month to keep a patient alive, stating that it could amount to over GH?3000 monthly.

He pointed out that GH?2.5 million is needed for the foundation to be able to provide basic treatment required to survive kidney disease.

Talking about the cost of dialysis, Rector of Ghana Physicians and Surgeons, Plange Rhule intimated that when a patient receives a transplant, the patient has to continuously live on medication to ensure that the new organ is not rejected by the body, and that involves cost.

"This is the kind of service we need to develop in Ghana for people to benefit," he added.

Touching on people who are prone to kidney disease, Mr Rhule noted that people with ill-treated hypertension and diabetes are likely to suffer from this disease.

According to him, data from Korle-Bu Hospital showed that one in three persons who come with hypertension has some form of impairment with kidney function.