The Renal Patients Association has made an urgent appeal to the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital to reopen its renal unit for outpatient services.
The unit has been closed to outpatients since May 22, 2023, forcing patients to seek dialysis services elsewhere.
The association alleges that the hospital authorities have attributed the closure of the outpatient unit to a shortage of renal consumables and the pending parliamentary approval of the new price.
Kojo Ahenkorah, the spokesperson for the association, expressed his concerns about patients being left without options in an interview with Citi News.
“It is still not open to us, they are still doing the inpatients, those on emergencies, and others. This is quite worrying because most of our people are sick…as I am talking to you the unit is still not open to the outpatients. We’ve not heard anything from them.
“It was on the radio that we heard that the Korle-Bu CEO was saying that the new price was not approved. They need to go to parliament before it will be approved and they should shut the old price, we are also patients, we are also sick. Our lives depend on this machine so why don’t you open to us? We don’t know when they are going to call us to go for our dialysis.”
Meanwhile, the Ghana Kidney Association has announced that it is engaging with relevant authorities to make dialysis treatment more affordable for all.
The association said it has decided to engage with authorities after noting various concerns raised about the cost of renal treatment.
According to the Association, the outcome of these discussions will be made public in due course.