The\nVice Chairperson of the House Committee on Health has appealed to government to\nheed calls by nephrologists to train more specialists and also equip regional\nhealth centres to handle patients with kidney complications.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Hon.\nSpellanza Baguma, who was addressing the media ahead of Parliament celebrations\nto mark the World Kidney Day, said there was need to establish regional\ndialysis centres to handle patients that require the services.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Dialysis\nis the clinical purification of blood, as a substitute for the normal function\nof the kidney. It is recommended for patients, whose kidneys cannot\nsufficiently and normally do the purification.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Hon.\nBaguma, who is also the Kyenjojo district woman representative, said that there\nis an increase in kidney related illnesses amidst inadequate services.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cKidney\nrelated diseases are a big problem in our country and yet very little has been\nsaid about it. Our leaders do not know that it is happening,\u201d said Hon. Baguma\nduring a press conference held at Parliament Building on Monday 25 March 2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The\npress conference was jointly addressed by Dr. Joseph Gyagenda, Head of\nNephrology unit at St. Francis Hospital, Nsambya.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cFor\nthe young children, we do not have dialysis services at all, meaning that for\nthose families which do not have finances to seek treatment abroad, the\nchildren wait for death,\u201d Baguma added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
About\none quarter or 21.4 per cent of Ugandans suffer from kidney related diseases,\nwith less than one percent being treated due to inadequate dialysis services in\nthe country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Dr.\nGyagenda proposed that government should budget for establishment of regional\ndialysis centers countrywide to avert the shortage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Currently,\nthere are only two regional dialysis centers in the country, including Mbarara\nand Kiruddu hospitals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cGovernment\nneeds only Shs560 million to set up dialysis centers countrywide. This is\nclearly affordable, and given the money it saves, there is an urgent need for\nscaling up of these services,\u201d said Gyagenda.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He\nsaid that an assessment has already been made and it has been found that there\nare enough structures required to host dialysis units in regional\nhospitals. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThere\nare people of goodwill who are ready to provide the dialysis services, leaving\ngovernment with the task of providing consumables,\u201d he added. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Doctors\nfrom the Uganda Kidney Foundation recently petitioned Parliament asking\ngovernment to empower regional hospitals to offer specialized treatment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Dr.\nGyagenda, who led the petitioners, said that some regional hospitals should be\nequipped to perform dialysis on patients, which would also save the country\nforeign exchange for the patients that go to India for such treatment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Parliament\nwill on Thursday 28 March 2019 host the World Kidney Day commemorations under\nthe theme, \u2018Kidney health for everyone, everywhere\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Meanwhile,\nthe Uganda Medical Association (UMA) has appealed to Parliament to consider an\nincrease in salaries of doctors that did not benefit from the same in earlier\nfinancial years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Dr.\nMukuzi Muhereza, the Secretary General of UMA, District Health Officers,\nAssistant Commissioners and Directors in the Ministry of Health were not\nconsidered during the recent salary increment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The doctors presented their petition to the Deputy Speaker of Parliament, Jacob Oulanyah, on Monday 25 March 2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Parliament.go.ug<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Vice Chairperson of the House Committee on Health has appealed to government to heed calls by nephrologists to train more specialists and also equip regional health centres to handle patients with kidney complications. Hon. Spellanza Baguma, who was addressing the media ahead of Parliament celebrations to mark the World Kidney Day, said there was […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":27983,"featured_media":8860,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_paywall_metabox":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[98],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8859","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\n