Lubaga hospital gets Dialysis unit for patients with kidney diseases

Lubaga hospital has opened its new kidney dialysis unit to treat patients with chronic kidney disease.  Dr. Julius Luyimbazi the Executive director of the hospital said the fully functional unit has a capacity of five machines.

“There are so many people who have diabetes, kidney disease hypertension and other causes of kidney failure. When you go to Kiruddu it is congested, when you go to Mulago they are congested, so we are trying to find a solution for Ugandans who need these services but they cannot find them,  at an affordable rate” he explained.

Dialysis is for people whose kidneys have failed and they need external support by a machine.

The dialysis must be recommended by a specialist called a nephrologist who decides how many sessions a patient can undergo   depending on the  degree of failure of the kidneys.

Dr.  Luyimbazi says they will offer dialysis sessions for patients at a lower cost.

The cost of dialysis per session depends on where one goes, ranging between Uganda shillings 300,000 to 600,000.

“Ours is going to be towards the lower side because we are a private not for profit hospital, so it will be quite lower than the private hospitals out there. Probably in the range of 300,000 or 320,000 shillings”  Dr. Luyimbazi told this reporter.

In Uganda dialysis services are only available in Mulago hospital, Kirudu and in Mbarara hospital.

 Some of the risk factors leading to chronic kidney disease include consuming foods high in proteins, high consumption of alcohol, consuming too much salt and smoking. While a reduction in consumption of processed food, sugars and saturated fats has help prevent or slow the progress of chronic kidney disease