Although, yet to be officially inaugurated, the Haemodialysis Unit of the Upper East Regional Hospital is providing dialysis services to clients who have kidney and other renal related diseases.

About 137 dialysis sessions have so far been conducted at the unit while 15 patients including two from Burkina Faso are on regular dialysis service provision since May 26, 2024.

The facility which is yet to be officially inaugurated is currently providing emergency cases and other renal diseases detected at the Outpatient Department and management is hoping to start full operations when the facility is officially inaugurated.

Dr Saanwie Aiden, the Medical Director of the Hospital disclosed this to the Ghana News Agency in Bolgatanga on the sidelines of a donation of a dialysis machine and essential consumables to the hospital.

“Due to overwhelming pressure, we were forced to start the centre ahead official commissioning, that tells the need for the dialysis centre in this part of the country is ever present,” he said.

The items included one dialysis machine, a dialysis manual bed/chair, 240 hollow fiber dialysis HF19, 240 bloodlines, 480 fistula needles 16G, 120 gallons of acid concentrate dialysate and 240 gallons bicarbonate cartridge.

The items valued at GH₵466,505.00, was donated by The Cardinal Namdini Mining Limited (CNML), a subsidiary of the Shandong Gold, a Chinese mining firm, as part of the company’s Corporate Social Responsibility.

It was also in response to an appeal to the company made by Tongraan Kugbilsong Nanlebegtang, Paramount Chief of the Talensi District Traditional Area to support the dialysis unit of the Hospital.

The Medical Director commended CNML and Tongraan for the support and other stakeholders who had supported the centre over the period.

He said the collective effort would boost dialysis service and healthcare delivery in the region significantly.

He revealed that preparations for the full operations of the centre was almost done and indicated that the centre had the capacity to contain 14 dialysis machines and appealed for more support.

“We have all heard the issues that bedevilled dialysis centres across the country, and we don’t want this centre to be in a similar state whereby it is established and goes down because of lack of consumables and things to manage it”, he said.

He reiterated the commitment of the hospital to make the facility a centre of excellence, adding “we want to appeal to the people that the fight to end renal diseases is not over and we want you to partner us to enable us continue to provide the services we have to provide as a centre and beyond that, look at possibilities of subsidising care for our teeming patients who come here for our services”.

Dr Adam Yussif, a Medical Officer and Clinician, Upper East Regional Hospital, noted that two of the three previous machines were non-functional due to the pressure of the increasing cases and management was working to have them fixed.

He advised the public to prioritise their health by undertaking regular check-up and precautionary measures to avoid situations of requiring dialysis services.

The campaign to establish a dialysis centre at the hospital started a few months ago due to the numerous kidney cases the hospital was receiving and the financial burden on clients who had to travel to Tamale for the service.