The Gombe State Government is to procure six dialysis machines at the cost of N200 million for use in its newly constructed dialysis centre at the state’s specialist hospital.
Kennedy Ishaya, the state Commissioner for Health, disclosed this to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Gombe on Thursday.
He said the amount would cover cost of procuring the machines, installation, water treatment plant and a laboratory inside the dialysis centre
Ishaya said one of the machines would be dedicated for detecting patients who were HIV positive.
Two of the remaining ones would be for the screening of people with Hepatitis B and C and the remaining three machines would be deployed for general use, he said.
Ishaya said that HIV and Hepatitis were public health issues.
“You can contract HIV through blood transfusion while Hepatitis can be contracted through the body fluid. And the machines deal with blood, we want to get rid of the risk of infections,” he said.
The commissioner said Gombe state had started running clinics for elderly persons from 65 years and above where they received free treatment.
“Except those with diabetes and hypertension, treatment is free other ailments such as: epilepsy, sickle cell,” Ishaya said.
He appealed to the aged in the state to avail themselves of the service.
