22 Mar 2020

GABORONE - There are 584 patients treated for chronic kidney disease currently, says Assistant Minister of Health and Wellness, Mr Sethomo Lelatisitswe.

Mr Lelatisitswe said the patients were treated in both public and private sectors, and that all were on dialysis.

Mr Lelatisitswe noted that there were eight main renal centres in country; three in the public sector at Nyangabgwe, Princess Marina and Letsholathebe 11 Memorial hospitals and five in the private sector being Bokamoso Private Hospital, Gaborone Private Hospital, Renal Care Institute, Riverside Dialysis Unit in Palapye and Francistown.

The assistant minister said renal care centres in the public sector were established in 2014, noting that costs incurred since inception of the programme in 2014/2015 to 2018/2019 was about P49 million for organ transplant while over P158 million was paid for dialysis up to the end of 2017/2018.

He said 32 kidney transplants were done for patients with kidney failure on dialysis since 2014. He added that out of the 32 kidney transplants, eight deaths were reported whilst 24 patients were still alive.

Mr Lelatisitswe noted that there were many challenges associated with renal replacement therapy such as critical shortage of resources and specialists.

He said there were three health professionals in training, one nephrologist and two renal specialists nurses.

Furthermore, he highlighted that the ministry was aware of the magnitude of kidney diseases in Botswana.

He also said the ministry was aware of the loss of earnings incurred when one had to do periodic dialysis and challenges that patients had to endure as the conditions were long’term.

“It is in this regard that the ministry is implementing the Botswana Organ Transplant Policy which was approved in 2014 whose aim is to create an enabling environment for organ replacement services,” he said.

He said through the policy, the ministry had facilitated organ transplants and care for patients with kidney diseases through public private partnerships, including accessing services in Botswana and neighbouring countries as well as establishing an agreement with a private hospital in India.

In addition, he said with more private hospitals being licensed, an organ transplant programme might be feasible in the near future with the possibility of an organ bank, saying the Public Health Act made provisions for such developments.

The MP for Mahalapye West, Mr David Tshere had asked the minister to state the number of renal care centres in the country, both public and private as well as the number of patients under renal care or had been in the past 10 years with the total costs of treating such patients on a yearly basis.

He further required the minister to state the number of patients who have had successful kidney replacement surgery, and the number of those who were unsuccessful and those who lost their lives.

Mr Tshere also wanted to know the challenges associated with the treatment and the impact of kidney related diseases on the socio-economic status of patients. ENDs