Relief for City residents as Mbagathi Hospital introduces dialysis sessions

Nairobi residents will now breath a sigh of relief as Mbagathi District hospital introduces dialysis sessions.

The facility under the management of the county  has acquired five ultra-modern dialysis machines which will be able to offer services related to kidneys.

County Chief Officer for Health Washington Makodingo said it was a privilege that a city top hospital can offer such services.

"At the moment we have 15 patients who have appointments on the dialysis. Each day at least five patients undergo the dialysis after having an appointment. The patients normally come between 8:00 a.m and 12:00 p.m," he explained to the Star on Thursday.

Makodingo also said the dialysis normally takes four hours and then the machine is cleaned for at least an hour before the next patient comes in.

Normally, patients are required to do two dialysis sessions per week but there are cases where some go for 10 sessions in a month.

National Hospital Insurance Funds (NHIF) patients are fully covered but those who are not but seek to have it done privately are charged Sh 9,500 per session.

In the past, only Kenyatta National Hospital (KNH), Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital (MTRH) and Coast General Hospital had the equipment to handle dialysis.

Long queues, and sometimes failure by overloaded machines at KNH made treatment of his kidney disease difficult.

Back in 2015, the ministry of Health leased Sh 38 billion medical equipment to 94 county hospitals among them dialysis machines, CT scan and MRI units.

However, with Mbagathi now having the right equipment, it will ease congestion at KNH.