Medical expert lament high cost of kidney transplant in Nigeria

A nephrologist consultant and the immediate past chairman of the Nigeria Medical Association (NMA) Abia State, Dr Chimezie Okwuonu, has appealed to government and corporate organisations to subsidise the cost of kidney transplant in Nigeria.

Dr Okwuonu who made the advocacy during the 5th anniversary of Kidney Transplant Programme of the Federal Medical Centre Umuahia, lamented how the rising cost of kidney transplant had prevented a number of kidney patients from accessing medical treatment.

Vanguard reports that the former NMA boss explained how it costs about N9 million to conduct a kidney transplant in Nigeria also wondered how many patients could afford the cost considering the biting economic hardship.

Okwuonu expressed deep worry that patients with as much as N5 million could not have a transplant.

We saw from our data that we have patients that have N3 million but they were not able to afford a transplant, even N4 million, N5 million, because our transplant programme is N9 million, N7.5 million for the surgery and N1.5million for the tests that are required.”

He, therefore, advocated subsidy from government and corporate bodies for kidney patients to undergo transplant and avoid early grave.

Also speaking, Director of the Kidney Transplant Programme, Dr Anosike Erondu, proposed the establishment of a foundation that could subsidise the cost for the patients.

He also urged people to be mindful of their eating habits and watch against those things that could predispose them to kidney disease.

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