​Ex-Minister laments absence of kidney transplant centre in S’East

A former Minister of Health, Dr Tim Menakaya, a former President, West African Collage of Surgeons, Prof Okechukwu Mbonu and Chief Medical Director, CMD, Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Prof Anthony Igwegbe, have lamented lack of Kidney Transplant Center in any part of Southeast Nigeria.
Speaking weekend during theKidney Disease Conference, organized by Nnamdi Azikiwe University Teaching Hospital Nnewi, NAUTH, and presented by Prof. Mbonu, the trio said the people of Southeast are the most backward in Nigeria in terms of addressing the kidney disease problem which incidentally is very high in the region.
Dr Menakaya who was the chairmanof the occasion said that it was during his tenure as the Minister of Health that NAUTH was made a Kidney dialysis center, but regretted that since he left, nothing has been done by subsequent administrationsto improve on what he established inthe institution in addressing kidney disease problem.
“I am happy we are having this seminar, to upgrade what we alreadyhave, we know the problem and the causes and where it comes from, but it has become a problem here in the Southeast, I believe we can do much better if there is concerted effort not by institutions and academics but by individuals who are well to do, we must benefit from their resources and wealth.
“In Nigeria we believe that we are one of the most blessed regions andyet we do not have any kidney transplant center while in other states regions of the country the centers are located in both government and private hospitals”.
CMD of NAUTH Prof Igwegbe in his welcome address said the purpose of the conference is to bring to the public domain the prevalence and incidence of kidney disease and the challenges of managing the Chronic Kidney Disease, CKD, and End StageKidney Disease, ESKD, in developingcountries and NAUTH in particular.He said that the available hospital data in Nigeria revealed that CKD accounts for 10% of medical admissions as recorded in NAUTH.
“It is sad to note that majority of the patients in Nigeria with CKD are young, aged between 25 -50 years which is their economically productive years.
“Renal Replacement Therapies, RRT,are the alternative treatment measures used to take over the function of the kidneys either wholly or partially. The options are dialysis and kidney transplantation which are expensive and unaffordable to majority of Nigerians.
“Less than 10% of all patients that require RRT actually receives it with the remaining 90% dying prematurely from the complications of kidney failure, and Haemodialysis,which is the most widely used RRT, has been available in this hospital since 2010, our renal center was established by Dr Menakaya in year 2000, and about 90 patients undergohaemodialysis in this hospital every month at an average cost of N30,000 per session”. Prof Mbonu in his key note address Nigeria today ranks highest in the new cases of Kidney disease, addingthat NAUTh has the strength and capacity to begin kidney transplant but the only problem is funding, and lamented that Southeast does not have any kidney transplant center.