NANCY MWAPE, Livingstone
GOVERNMENT has acquired 21 dialysis machines from Germany for three referral hospitals at a cost of €1 million.
The dialysis machines are for Lusaka’s University Teaching Hospital (UTH), Livingstone Central and Ndola Central hospitals.
Deputy Health minister Chitalu Chilufya said in an interview on Saturday that Government will ensure that all hospitals have dialysis machines to enable them handle kidney complications without referring them abroad.
“This is a significant step in our health delivery. Our plan is to ensure that each provincial hospital is equipped with dialysis machines to arrest increasing cases of kidney-related complications.
“Government’s plan is to finish installing dialysis machines in all hospitals by the year 2017,” Dr Chilufya said.
A dialysis machine is used to filter a patient’s blood to remove excess water and waste products when kidneys are damaged.
Dr Chilufya said installation of dialysis machines at Livingstone Central Hospital will elevate the status of the institution and help improve service delivery.
Livingstone Central Hospital consultant physician and nephrologist Kenneth Kapembwa said in a separate interview that the acquisition of the dialysis machines will help prevent deaths among patients with chronic kidney disease.
“The machine will not just focus on kidney patients but also other people requiring dialysis for other medical procedures to be done,” he said.
Dr Kapembwa said the setting up of a dialysis unit at the Livingstone Central will enable the hospital to provide tertiary level services, which have been lacking for a long time.
He said the hospital is currently losing many patients suffering from kidney failure due to lack of dialysis machines.
Dr Kapembwa said medical staff will be trained before the hospital starts offering the service.

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