Doctors to undergo kidney training ahead of Sh38bn equipment rollout
Doctors at the Kenyatta National Hospital carry out a kidney transplant. PHOTO | FILE
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The training also targets nurses, dieticians, surgeons and biomedical engineers without kidney care skills.
The creation of more experts in the counties would likely ease pressure on the referral hospital.
The treatment costs between Sh7,500 and Sh9,000 per session at private hospitals.
All the public hospital doctors are set to undergo a mandatory three-month training in kidney treatment as the government moves roll out its Sh38 billion equipment leasing project.
The training, to be held in Nairobi this month at a cost of Sh180,000 per person, also targets nurses, dieticians, surgeons and biomedical engineers without kidney care skills, most of whom are located in the counties outside the capital.
“The Ministry of Health has made it mandatory after realising that if we don’t build these skills across the country, supply of equipment alone will not achieve much,” said Dr Anthony Were, the head of renal unit at the Kenyatta National Hospital (KNH).
He is among the specialists in charge of the training that will involve dialysis, care and surgery.
President Uhuru Kenyatta last year launched a medical scheme to supply county hospitals Sh38 billion worth of health equipment, including kidney dialysis machines, digital X-ray machines and modern theatres.
About 8,000 kidney patients are on dialysis sessions at KNH and they spend Sh5,000 per session. The creation of more experts in the counties would likely ease pressure on the referral hospital. The treatment costs between Sh7,500 and Sh9,000 per session at private hospitals.
Government figures show that about four million Kenyans have some form of kidney disease, highlighting the cost of the disease to the economy.
The country, however, has only 23 nephrologists (kidney specialists) with 15 of them based in Nairobi facilities, according to Dr Were.
The government now expects to build a large pool of skills in kidney care, in the short-term, with the training that is partly funded by the African Development Bank.
He says its takes millions of shillings to train a nephrologist.
“This preceptorship training programme will address the skills shortages in the short term as we work towards developing more specialists in the field in future,” said Dr Were, who is also the deputy director of a proposed Sh3.3 billion East Africa Kidney Institute in Nairobi.
The institute, which will target post-graduate students from the region, will offer kidney healthcare and train surgeons (urologists), nephrologists and specialist nurses. It will be built from next year as opposed to this year as earlier planned.
President Kenyatta last year commissioned the supply of the equipment to Level Five hospitals in the 47 counties, starting with that in Machakos.
The other equipment to be supplied include surgical and sterilisation machines, laboratory equipment, ICU facilities, ultrasound and imaging machines.
Only two public hospitals — KNH and Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital in Eldoret — have the capacity to conduct kidney transplants at subsidised rates.
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