Management of the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital has disclosed that the Renal Dialysis Unit of the hospital will be opened to kidney patients today November 6, 2023.
The unit has been closed to outpatients since May 22, 2023, forcing patients to seek dialysis services at private health facilities which most can’t afford.
It will be recalled that the Minister of Health, Kwaku Agyemang-Manu, on Thursday directed the management of the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital to immediately reopen the unit but till November 5, the unit was still closed.
At a sitting on November 2, 2023, the Member of Parliament for Juaboso and the Ranking Member on the Health Committee of Parliament, Kwabena Mintah Akandoh, initiated the call for the need to ask the Health Minister to appear before the House to speak on the closure of the Renal Unit.
“The reopening of the outpatient department cannot continue to be in abeyance, and even more distressing is the statement from the Renal Patients Association that since the closure of the outpatient department of the renal unit in May, 14 of its members have died,” Akandoh said.
“The tragic loss of life emphasizes the urgency of the matter and the necessity for immediate intervention,” he added.
Akandoh also urged the minister to address the issue of the approved GH¢380 fee charge for kidney treatment, which has not been reinstated since the outpatient department was closed.
In October this year, the association revealed that more than a dozen outpatients have died since May 2023 because they could not raise the needed funds for dialysis at private facilities.
The dialysis unit was shut down due to a delay in the delivery of some consumables and a GH₵4 million debt.
