Kidney patients in Kirinyaga in crisis as dialysis machines fail at Kerugoya hospital

The hospital, which serves the entire county’s kidney disease population, had been operating with eight dialysis machines.

Over the past five months, however, six of them have broken down, leaving only two in service. The shortage has forced hundreds of patients to cut back on vital treatment sessions or seek costly alternatives in private hospitals.

For 76-year-old Beatrice Mureithi, the situation has been devastating.
“When I went there, I was told the machines had failed. That is when I started doing my dialysis at Mount Kenya,” she said, her voice heavy with fatigue. She explained that sessions that should last four hours have now been reduced to two or three hours due to the pressure on the remaining machines. “It has not helped at all,” she added.

Another patient, Amos Wanjau, described the painful consequences of incomplete dialysis.
“Every day I wake up swollen. My legs are full of wounds because the fluid is not being drained properly. I was only getting two hours of dialysis instead of the recommended four,” he said.

The collapse of services at Kerugoya has forced many patients to seek dialysis in private hospitals, where costs can be prohibitive. Some have had to sell personal assets to afford the weekly treatments.
“Someone has failed us in the medical field,” Mureithi lamented.

The growing crisis has drawn the attention of Kirinyaga Senator, who questioned why no contingency plans were made to secure new machines.
“I don’t understand why there was no arrangement to ensure new machines were available. The people depending on these services are some of the most vulnerable,” the senator said.

Responding to the outcry, Governor Anne Waiguru maintained that the responsibility for procuring the dialysis machines lies with the national government under the National Equipment Support Programme (NESP). She assured that new machines would be delivered to Kerugoya General Hospital by Wednesday—a promise patients like Beatrice and Wanjau can only hope will be fulfilled.