Renal failure: High cost of treatment confronts victims in Nigeria

From Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH), Idi Araba, Lagos to Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH), Ikeja, the cries of kidney patients are the same: treatment is expensive.

“I have been experiencing a hard time managing my health. I have high blood pressure and diabetes, but I just cannot resist having a regular meal despite advice from my doctor to stay away from certain foods. During a checkup, the doctor tested my blood. The results showed I had developed chronic kidney disease,” Kenneth Agbo, a kidney patient, who is a civil servant, said.

Agbo continued “my woes began the day I was diagnosed with kidney disease. I can barely pay my rent let alone pay the hospital bills required for dialysis three times a week. Life has become unbearable for me. My doctor explained that people with kidney disease often do not know it. That’s why it is called a ‘silent’ disease.”

In recent times, kidney failure or end stage renal disease has become a major public health issue in the country. Available statistics indicate that kidney failure is increasing worldwide by approximately 7 percent annually with incidence in Nigeria projected to go as high as over 20 per million Nigerians.

With the prevalence of patients with kidney disease aged between 20 and 50 years, significant number of Nigerians falls within the working population, a situation health experts say, may pose a serious threat to the future of Nigeria’s economy.

Economic analysis of the ailment shows that a renal patient requires about 3 to 5 hour dialysis treatment three times a week with dialysis aimed at replacing a percentage of the healthy kidney’s function.

Though diabetes and hypertension are lifelong disorders and expensive to manage, renal disease is much more expensive. In India, which has become the Mecca for kidney patients in Africa, renal transplant cost about $20,000 (about N3 million) and over N3million in Nigeria. BusinessDay investigations show that currently, patients pay as high as N75,000 for three sessions of dialysis every week and about N5 million annually.

Health experts have expressed worries that for a nation still battling with a myriad of health issues, cases of kidney failure will continue to equal ‘death sentences’ if not detected early and managed appropriately.

Bello Babawale, consultant nephrologist, LUTH, Idi-araba, admitted that kidney failure is expensive to treat anywhere in the world though the difference in those countries is that government gets involved in the treatment by introducing subsidies.

Babawale who lamented the high cost of treatment explained that: “We have unfortunate combination of an expensive treatment for a common disease that afflicts a poor population. The people are poor and the disease is common in the population. The only way is for government to subsidise treatment for kidney failure; not just transplant but also dialysis and all the other drugs. That is the only way outcome for kidney failure can improve in the country.”

Lending his voice to the discourse, Kodjo Soroh, medical director, Pfizer Nigeria, East Africa Region stated that high blood pressure and diabetes are important risk factors for the development of chronic kidney disease if not diagnosed early and properly managed.

“Creating awareness on the importance of a healthy kidney with stakeholders is critical at this time to reduce the affliction of the disease. Over the years, Pfizer has contributed to reduction of kidney ailments through cardiovascular screening across the country. Risk factors for these conditions have to do with lifestyle modification, obesity, and sedentary lifestyle,” Soroh said

Bose Peters, president and founder, Kidney Foundation for Africa (KFA) appealed to Nigerians to love their kidneys to live long in health. Peters said that high-risk people-the obese, people with hypertensive or diabetic relations must check with their doctors.

“They must constantly check to control the problems and reduce the destruction of their kidney. Chief cause of kidney disease is hypertension and diabetes, and if they are caught early, and keep them under control, then the possibility of their continuing to destroy the kidney is less. It is cheaper to treat hypertension than to treat kidney failure. That is our appeal,” she said.

ALEXANDER CHIEJINA