Responding to a question in Parliament recently, Assistant Minister of Health, Mr Lawrence Ookeditse said living with hypertension or diabetes was a burden and even so, overwhelming when compounded by added weight of kidney complications. 

Mr Ookeditse noted that currently, there were 750 patients receiving haemodialysis and 10 patients on peritoneal dialysis through the ministry’s facilities and private partner clinics.  He said the figures excluded patients receiving dialysis exclusively through private health care providers and therefore undermined the true burden of advanced kidney disease in the country. 

He therefore said the ministry acknowledged with gratitude, the resilience of patients and devotion of the families and caregivers who supported them. 

He said evidence indicated that the global prevalence of chronic kidney disease was approximately 13.4 per cent, while studies conducted in Botswana estimated a comparable prevalence of approximately 13.5 per cent.

The assistant minister said the ministry recognised that the most effective and most strategic for addressing chronic kidney disease was prevention, through early detection and effective, compassionate management of hypertension and diabetes before irreversible kidney damage occurred.  He further said they were committed to reducing the burden of chronic kidney disease, through a comprehensive and compassionate approach that prioritised prevention. He added that the ministry was implementing interventions, including strengthening health promotion and disease prevention programme with emphasis on healthy lifestyle, improved nutrition, increased physical activity, tobacco cessation and reduction of other risk factors for non-communicable diseases (NCDs). 

Mr Ookeditse said some interventions also included providing continuous training and capacity building alongside reviewing and updating national primary health care guidelines for healthcare workers, to improve early diagnosis and that they were equipped with the latest evidence-based approaches for prevention and management of hypertension, diabetes and chronic kidney disease.  Also, he said the ministry was implementing strengthening specialist renal care through recruiting additional specialists including internal medicine specialists and nephrologists, as well as expanding specialist services by deploying family medicine specialists to almost all primary hospitals and district councils, thereby strengthening comprehensive primary healthcare.  

Such interventions, he said, formed part of the ministry’s broader strategy to reduce preventable suffering and complications, improve health outcomes and ensure that all Batswana, especially those already living with this condition, had access to equitable, high-quality and dignified healthcare services. 

MP for Maun West, Mr Caterpillar Hikuama, had asked the minister to appraise Parliament of the current situation of rising kidney problems in the country. ENDS