People suffering from hepatitis and requiring haemodialysis have to travel to the capital at least twice per week for dialysis sessions because the only available machine is in Harare.
Other than Harare, hepatitis patients would have to fly to South Africa for the service. A patient who spoke to NewsDay from Bulawayo yesterday said there were no dialysis machines for hepatitis patients in Zimbabwe’s second city and people that required dialysis had to travel either to Harare or South Africa.
Zimbabwe also has a shortage of dialysis machines for renal patients and people with kidney ailments can only get the dialysis machines in Bulawayo, Harare and Chitungwiza.
Unfortunately, according to a health expert who preferred anonymity, hepatitis patients cannot be put on the kidney dialysis machines because of the highly infectious nature of their disease.
Health minister Henry Madzorera said he was not aware of the prevailing situation regarding dialysis machines at the moment, referring questions to officials at his office.
Chitungwiza Central Hospital is the only medical institution with a fully functional renal unit with eight dialysis machines serving at least 16 people per day.
Renal expert Obadiah Moyo, who is Chitungwiza Central Hospital chief executive officer, said there were people coming from as far as Bulawayo to Chitungwiza for dialysis because of the cheaper fees.
