King Fahd hospital renal unit shut due to water shortage
The renal unit in Lamu’s King Fahad County Referral Hospital. A water shortage has disrupted dialysis services for kidney patients.
The renal unit at Lamu’s King Fahd Referral Hospital has been shut due to a water shortage that has persisted for weeks.
Health Executive Anne Gathoni yesterday confirmed dialysis services were stopped last week and 15 patients were asked to seek treatment in other hospitals.
But she assured the public that her department was working to resolve the hitch so that kidney patients would continue benefiting from the crucial service.
“This department being under the Managed Equipment Service (MES) programme, the Ministry of Health is aware of the challenge and we should be back on our feet soonest,” she said.
An internal memo from hospital administrators, seen by the Nation, explained that all the machines at the renal unit were functioning but the challenge was with the membrane that filters the water that they use.
Kidney patients expressed their frustrations over the closure.
Said Hussein, 50, a resident of Ndambwe in Mkunumbi ward, Lamu West, said he was diagnosed with kidney disease in 2019. That required him to undergo dialysis twice a week, prompting him to relocate to Lamu town so that he could receive treatment at King Fahd hospital.
Mr Hussein was referred to Jocham Hospital in Mombasa to continue with the treatment.
Another patient given a referral note was Mr Wasama Nuno Mahmoud, 74, who was asked to go to Nyali’s Premier Hospital in Mombasa County.
Mr Mahmoud said 12 days had passed since he last underwent dialysis.
Dialysis patients in Lamu are required to pay Sh19,000 for two dialysis sessions every week.
A renal unit requires an adequate and consistent supply of quality water to be effective.
But most of the water used, particularly on Lamu Island, is salty.
The machines in the Lamu renal unit were part of the equipment procured by the national government for Sh1.1 billion under the MES programme.
The unit was officially commissioned in 2018 alongside a computed tomography (CT) scan centre by then Health Cabinet secretary Sicily Kariuki.
