The Mountain Journal
editor@themountainjournal.co.ke
The introduction of mobile dialysis services has supported hundreds of families in Murang’a, who were earlier forced to schedule transport of the sick to far away hospitals.
Patients suffering from kidney malfunction braced themselves for exhausting journeys to get to distant hospitals to access dialysis services which today is a relief after the introduction of service available in all the sub counties.
A beneficiary, Joseph Wainaina, recounts the suffering and the struggles he had undergone before the introduction of the mobile renal service.
He was diagnosed with kidney failure early last year, an issue that changed his life, placing him on dialysis sessions in Thika, which was the nearest facility.
“With the mobile facility, I can get services in Gatura health centre barely a kilometre from my home,” said Wainaina.
Jane Wakoimbi, says they have struggled with their mother whom they ferried from Kandara to Kenyatta National Hospital, and since June last year the situation has improved.
“That routine changed after she was registered to benefit from the mobile dialysis programme and the spendings greatly reduced,” said Wakoimbi.
Governor Irungu Kang’ata said the facility was introduced in partnership between the Murang’a County Government and Bencare organisation, a strategy that transformed the lives of patients after years of suffering due to long distances followed by hours of waiting.
Kang’ata said the unit has eased the financial, physical and emotional burden that came with seeking care far from home.
“ The majority of the patients stayed awake to ensure by 3 am, they were on their way to the hospitals and returned home very late in the night,” said Kang’ata.
Officer in charge of the dialysis unit Ezra Ondeyo, the mobile clinic is not just about convenience but provides quality care to the patients.
Ondeyo says the machines used offer advanced treatment through hemodiafiltration, a method that removes waste from the blood more effectively than standard dialysis.
“We are proud of clinical results from the patients as they travel short distances and session attendance is 100 percent.” Ondeyo notes.
The nephrologist at Murang’a Level Five Hospital Dr James Karuha says cases of kidney disease are steadily rising, largely due to lifestyle-related factors thus forcing the county government to introduce the mobile renal unit.
“In the past, patients were forced to travel to health facilities in the neighbouring Kiambu or Nairobi counties which was costly and exhausting,” he explains.
