Gatundu Level 5 Hospital in Kiambu County is on the spot after scores of patients suffering from chronic kidney disease on Monday, December 5, protested two-weeks of stalled dialysis services.
Pain and anguish have been the order for patients who are reported to have been camping at the public facility for days without being attended to.
Failure by the hospital to avail consumables required for successful dialysis services such as dialyzers, AV tubing sets, fistula needles, filters, disinfectants among others were blamed for paralysed services at the major hospital.
As a result, patients are required to purchase certain consumables outside the facility to enable them to access the key treatment that rids their bodies of unwanted toxins, waste products, and excess fluids and filtering of their blood.
Francis Gathura, a middle-aged man is among the many patients who have been making long trips for dialysis twice a week.
Gatundu residents cry for help
In absence of the requisite consumables, Gathura has been incurring over Sh 7,000 every week to purchase certain items.
Adding to his travel expenses, Gathura who addressed journalists outside the facility decried that life has been overly difficult and could even opt to disregard the key service, a move that might cause more harm to his body.
He said that while National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF) has been remitting Ksh9,500 to the hospital per dialysis done, the facility has almost shattered their lives by failing to avail the key commodities.
“Lack of the consumables has been forcing us to add an extra Ksh3,500 per session, money that most of us cannot afford. Many who cannot afford the expensive treatment have died as a result while others who are still camping in hospital have contracted other diseases. It’s a serious challenge that has left us questioning why Gatundu hospital,” Gathura said.
For Jane Wambui, life has been exceedingly difficult for her for the past two weeks as she cannot be able to raise the money required to facilitate the dialysis services.
“Even eating has been difficult for some of us because the wastes have no way of draining. We are now living by the mercy of God as we cannot afford going for these services at private hospitals. Even there, most beds have been booked and we are left in total mix-up,” Wambui lamented.
In a quick rejoinder, the hospital superintendent Jesse Ngugi regretted that the facility has been struggling to avail the consumables as they only rely on one supplier.
Ngugi, who apologized to patients, revealed that dialyzer consumables have been unavailable for weeks but the hospital was seeking a permanent solution through multiple suppliers to avoid the recurrent hitches.
“We have had difficulties with our single supplier of the dialysis components but we have already talked to him and he has agreed to supply them,” he said.
At the same time, Ngugi revealed that the hospital has been struggling to meet its financial obligations owing to inability by most patients to pay for their treatment.
“This affects our revenue streams and our people should ensure they have working NHIF cards to enable us meet our expenses,” he added.
