The Central Regional Minister, Mr Samuel Sarpong, has appealed to organizations and companies involved in the manufacture, marketing, sale and distribution of consumables for dialysis treatment to come out with innovative ways of making dialysis treatment affordable.
He said management of failed kidney is costly due to the high cost of consumable on the world market and that is a major setback for people who need haemodialysis services.
The Minister made the appeal at the inauguration of the refurbished Renal Dialysis Centre for the Central Regional Hospital (CRH) in Cape Coast and said the situation was having a debilitating effect on the country�s workforce.
The one million and seven hundred-dollar centre which has 10 dialysis machines and a water plant was renovated and re-equipped with support from the Tokushukai Medical Corporation (TMC) of Japan.
He said kidney disease is increasing in Ghana with the 2010 snapshot analysis of data from the Renal Dialysis Centre in Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital revealing that chronic kidney diseases accounted for 15 % of all medical admissions in the hospital.
It also accounted for 10 % of all deaths in the Medical Ward with patients between the ages of 20 to 50 years.
The Minister said if the consumables were made affordable it would not only provide equal opportunity for persons with kidney failure but also improve quality of life for such persons.
Mr Sarpong commended the Tokushukai Medical Corporation for the support and pledged the government�s commitment to support the health sector to implement an MOU signed with the Tokushukai Corporation.
On the causes of the disease, he mentioned hypertension as the commonest cause accounting for 33%, chronic glomerulonephritis 28 % and diabetes 11% whiles patients with both hypertension and diabetes accounted for 12 %.
Mr Sarpong appealed to the authorities to ensure that all due attention is given to the centre to make it a centre of excellence for renal services not only in Ghana but also in the sub-region.
Dr Takao Suzuki, Vice Chairman of the Tokushukai Medical Corporation, commended Dr William Brandful the former Ambassador of Ghana to Japan through whose effort the MOU was signed.
He said under the philosophy and belief that all living beings are created equal, the Tokushukai Group had built 66 general hospitals in addition to other medical and social welfare institutions in Japan one whilst in Africa the Group is operating dialysis centres in 11 countries including Ghana.
Dr Suzuki said Mozambique, Djibouti, Zambia, Cameroon and Rwanda would be provided with new hospitals.
Dr Erasmus Agongo, acting Director General of the Ghana Health Services, commended the Group for the facility and expressed the hope that similar centres would be established in the other regional hospitals to ease pressure on Korle-Bu Teaching and the CRH hospitals.
Source: GNA
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