Zimbabwe is facing acute shortage of dialysis centres forcing many renal patients to fork out huge amounts of money to seek treatment either at private institutions or abroad.

By Phyllis Mbanje

This was despite a pledge made by President Robert Mugabe that he would ensure that more dialysis centres were established countrywide.

Currently dialysis services were only accessed at Parirenyatwa, Chitungwiza Central and Harare Central hospitals as well as at the Dialysis Centre in Avondale, Harare.

Last year dialysis machines at Mpilo Central Hospital in Bulawayo broke down, forcing many renal patients in Matabeleland
region to fork out lots of money travelling to Harare and neighbouring South Africa seeking dialysis services.

Dialysis is the artificial process of eliminating waste (diffusion) and unwanted water (ultrafiltration) from the blood.
Naturally this process is carried out by the kidneys, but when they malfunction or were damaged they cannot carry out the function properly.

If the waste is not removed the patient will become bloated and if there is no intervention they will succumb to a very traumatic and painful death.

However, more renal patients are set to benefit patients following the construction of a renal facility in Ruwa at the newly-renovated Fortress Private Hospital which will be completed by year end.

During a tour of the facility which is being run by a consortium of local doctors, the administrator Busi Muleya said their goal was to service patients from all walks of life and help them access the life-saving dialysis at a low cost.

“The renal wing will be opened early 2016. Our goal is to service Ruwa and Zimbabwe and reduce the number of people travelling outside the country to get the services,” Muleya said.

Meanwhile, the first phase of the reconstruction of the 50-bed hospital was now functional and the other wings like maternity and radiology will be finished by year end.

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