The agony of living with failed organ: Experiences of renal failure patients in Kano

While living on medication throughout a lifetime could be a disturbing experience, accessing the care itself is another ball game especially for the lower income earners in the society; this explains the experiences of renal failure patients in Kano. Renal failure according to experts accounts for many deaths in the country. Recent survey by the […]

While living on medication throughout a lifetime could be a disturbing experience, accessing the care itself is another ball game especially for the lower income earners in the society; this explains the experiences of renal failure patients in Kano.

Renal failure according to experts accounts for many deaths in the country. Recent survey by the Nephrological Association of Nigeria revealed that three out of every 10 Nigerians have a possibility of suffering renal failure in their life time.

This staggering statistics sounds extremely apprehensive especially in a country where no health insurance is covering the huge financial demands the disease places on its patients and their families.

For Kano, the burden is huge not only because it is the most populous state of the federation, but also because it has its fair share of poor population who may not even afford the cure for the predisposing factors that degenerate into renal failure such as diabetes and hypertension.

Current statistics shows that 26 percent of residents of Kano Metropolitan Council (KMC) alone have signs of renal diseases. By implication, this means that unless the government swings into action the productive capacity of its workforce will, in a near future, diminish drastically as majority of the patients are economically active, contributing to the Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) of the state.

Chronicle gathered that at present, more than 10 patients of total kidney failure, who could not afford the organ transplant, turn to Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital (AKTH) everyday for dialysis, and a substantial number of them belong to lower income class which means that at some point they may get constraints to afford the recommended session(s) of dialysis needed to sustain themselves.

A session of dialysis in public hospitals according to findings goes for N20, 000. This implies that a patient suffering chronic kidney disease has to spend N60, 000 for three sessions of dialysis every week, and N240, 000 monthly which translates to almost N3m in a year.

This huge financial burden of managing the disease has left many in a pitiable state as they battle with the disease.
According to Malam Wali Ado Rano, the President, Kano state Kidney Foundation, between 2014 and 2018, about 80 percent of kidney failure patients on dialysis in one of the hospitals in Kano had died due to financial constrains to continue with the dialysis.

Malam Rano, who was fortunate to have an organ transplant outside the country also groaned over the cost of complementary medicine which he has to continue taking for the rest of his life.

He recalled that the disease started with a consistent High Blood Pressure (HBP) and later degenerated into total kidney failure that placed him on dialysis for one and half years before he was able to get an organ transplant in India.

“I had a serious HBP, that was the initial stage. In fact while I was visiting my doctor for consultation then at the peak of the time that I would have this renal failure the blood pressure was very high, there was no control.

“It started with the sign of complete weakness, fever, vomiting and apart from that the level of weakness could not allow me to do anything. Then loss of senses, from there I started behaving abnormally. I started developing psychosis when it reached to a certain peak I could not move out.

“My son called one of my doctors, Dr Hamza, and told him that this was my condition. At that time AKTH staff were on strike so he asked us to go to Annur Hospital where he talked to a nephrologist consultant about my condition then I was taken to AKTH emergency unit. I was totally unconscious for some days up to the time I was taken to dialysis centre.

“I was given one session of dialysis then in fact I didn’t know the time they put the central line and put the dialysis it was after two days my wife told me you are now on dialysis and I said since when was that?

The doctor directed that at least we should do three sessions of dialysis. I remained on dialysis for a year and each session of dialysis was between N15,000 and N20,000 that was around 2014/15.

Malam Rano added that from the beginning of the sickness to the point of the organ transplant he spent over N20m.

“I missed a lot because then I was building my house, it was a very big house but I had to stop the project, in fact I can’t build it now because I spent not less than N20m on this sickness from the beginning to the time I got the transplant. The dialysis was about N160, 000 per month and I had been on it for one year. I started with two dialysis per week, then increased to three dialysis per week. If you multiply by 52 weeks in one year is a huge money and besides that there were other medications” he added.

For a 15-year-old Hajara Yusuf, what started as a mere recurrent anaemia for three months gradually led her having a blood transfusion.

The sickness persistence has been a source of concern to her parents.

A case of weakness was also noted among other symptoms.

According to a medical report by 108 Nigerian Airforce Hospital NAF base Abuja, after series of clinical assessment a case of chronic kidney failure was suspected and Hajara was referred to National Hospital Abuja for further examinations.

However, at the National Hospital Abuja, a report signed by Dr. Peter O. Egwakhide, young Hajara was diagnosed to be suffering from chronic

kidney disease secondary to chronic Glomerulonephritis, background solitary left kidney shrunken.

Similarly, a report by AKTH Medical Social Work department signed by Abdullahi Ibrahim shows that, Hajara is diagnosed with chronic kidney disease an end stage renal failure, stating that the condition signifies that both kidneys are not functioning.

The report further stated that to alleviate her suffering Hajara has been placed on relevant medication and maintenance haemodialysis three sessions per week and each session costs N17, 100.00.

She also requires an Eprex injection that will cost another N13, 000 monthly and that amounts to N218, 200.00 needed to keep Hajara fit every month.

The report further suggested that for a permanent solution to Hajara’s ailment a kidney transplant could be done at the hospital at a cost of N5 million.

Hajara has been in pains and her elder sister, Ai’sha, has volunteered to donate a kidney to her to save her life.

“My sister is in a sorry condition, she is always in pains and even though we had no such amount required for her kidney transplant I thought giving her a kidney will reduce the amount and also speed up the transplant processes. My hope and prayer is that, let God look into our situation and save my sister’s life, we are in dire need of assistance to save her life,” Ai’sha said.

Malam Abubakar Yusuf is Hajara’s father, a civil servant and low income earner. He said Hajara had to skip a session every week because he couldn’t afford the needed money for the three session per week.

“I am using this opportunity to appeal to the general public to assist us in ensuring that Hajara gets fit again now that her sister has volunteered to donate her kidney to her,” he pleaded.

Observing the pervasive trend of the disease, a nephrologist consultant at the AKTH, Dr Ademola Babatunde, appealed to the government to intervene by subsidising the cost of dialysis so as to enable the common man suffering from the disease access care.

“Technically more and more people are dying, because if people don’t have money to come for dialysis, as we know most people pay for dialysis themselves, even though the NHIS has started giving dialysis sessions free for those that are under NHIS but majority of our patients are paying for it and it is not cheap.

“If you are having a chronic kidney disease you need to have dialysis three times a week and average session costs from N10, 000 to N15, 000 and you are to do that three times every week. So with this cost implication you don’t just see many of them again. When you call their relatives they say the patient has passed on because they couldn’t get the money to have dialysis.

“So a lot of manpower that could have generated more revenue for the state, for the country is being lost. The families they left behind are also economically disadvantaged. Most of the patients are among the working class. So generally it is affecting the country” Ademola warned.