17 Mar 2019

Botswana, as a medium income country, has the responsibility to provide its people with End Stage Renal Failure (ESRF) treatment, says the Minister of Health and Wellness, Dr Alfred Madigele.

Officially opening the Renal Care Institute (RCI) as well as commemorating World Kidney Day in Gaborone recently, Dr Madigele said the responsibility to improve care lies with the government and the private sector.

He indicated that strategic partnerships between the public and private sectors could be used to make high level lifesaving treatment for patients with kidney diseases more accessible and affordable.

He said prior to 2009, his ministry offered limited care to patients with renal failure, which mainly involved acute peritoneal dialysis for patients with acute renal failure, while a few patients were referred to South African based hospitals for haemodialysis treatments at great costs given transport and hospital costs, which included ICU stay.

However, Dr Madigele said his ministry had addressed the need for this specialised treatment in Botswana by partnering with Nkadilatlha Investment, trading as Renal Care Institute.

The partnership, he said, involved providing specialised services in government facilities for the first time in 2009, adding that RCI had been involved in the setting up and running of a Renal Dialysis Unit at Princess Marina Referral Hospital under a Public Private Partnership initiative.

Through the RCI Princess Marina unit, he said over 1 000 lives had been touched and it continued to provide active care to about 150 patients needing Haemodialysis treatment.

Dr Madigele noted that offering the services within a government facility meant that the service was offered in the most cost-effective manner as there were no additional hidden costs.

He also added that RCI as a private institution, had ensured that services were provided efficiently with no interruptions.

Furthermore, Dr Madigele stated that the inception of the Organ Transplant Policy through his ministry was a welcome development that saw a lot of renal failure patients being successfully transplanted in India.

Although the morbidity and mortality from chronic kidney diseases remain worryingly high in Botswana, he said some patients with acute renal failure had recovered and live free of dialysis.

This year, Dr Madigele said World Kidney Day, which was commemoration under the theme: Kidney Health for Everyone Everywhere, set out to raise awareness of the high and increasing burden of kidney diseases worldwide.

He said the theme calls for universal health coverage for prevention and early treatment of kidney diseases, adding that there was need for strategies for kidney diseases prevention and management. Ends