Durban - Kidney patients seeking dialysis at Durban’s Addington Hospital’s Renal Dialysis Unit have had their time on the life-saving machines cut by half because of a lack of equipment and a broken water filtration pump.
Patients say they have been waiting in snaking queues for up to five hours at a time for dialysis because nine of the 23 machines have not worked in months.
In addition, they say, their times on the dialysis machines - some are required to go for five hours others for four hours - have been cut to two hours because a pump that filters the water during the dialysis process has not worked for more than two months.
“We are all afraid that we are not getting the proper care we need… surely it is not good if you were going for five hours before to now only be getting two hours.
“This has got a lot of people scared and we do not know where to go because when we approach management, our concerns fall on deaf ears,” said a patient who did not want to be named.
“We have put up with many problems at the Addington’s Dialysis Unit over the years such as a shortage of needles, gauze and cotton swabs but this is a real concern.
“Over the last two months, two people who have been receiving dialysis died. We are scared that it may be because they have cut the times,” the patient said.
The Daily News spoke to five renal patients receiving care at Addington who raised similar concerns. None wanted to be named.
“It is now on a first-come first- served basis. I get there at 6am and if there are other people ahead of me I am forced to wait until about 11am for treatment. I only get home much later in the day. It has become very frustrating,” one patient said.
A patient with severe kidney failure said that the broken water pump meant that toxins in their blood system were not clearing.
“The broken pump means that only 12 machines can work at any given time. This creates a huge backlog of people waiting for dialysis. The nurses and matron try their best but there is nothing they can do because this is a management problem,” he said.
However, in an e-mail last night Health Department spokesman, Sam Mkhwanazi, said the dialysis services at Addington Hospital were back to normal.
“Patients’ hours on dialysis machines are back to four hours and all machines are in good working order.
“The allegations about water are not true as there was no connection between the burst pipes, which were as a result of the ongoing revamping of the hospital, and the technical challenges pertaining to the dialysis machines.
“The department would like to apologise for any inconvenience caused by technical challenges experienced in the past,” he said.
DA MPL and spokesman for health, Imran Keeka, said he had been alerted to the growing concern in the dialysis unit.
“My contention is that everything is breaking down at the provincial health facilities because of lack of leadership. Things are going to crumple one by one.
“The MEC, as the authority in the department, needs to grow a backbone. The buck stops with him so the lives of the people are dependent on him,” Keeka said.
The DA would be taking the matter to the provincial health ombudsman for investigation, he said.
The IFP also took a swipe at the “poor management style” at the hospital. Party spokeswoman on health, Ncamisile Nkwanyana, said despite health portfolio committee meetings with hospital management, there was no improvement.
“We need to overhaul the whole health care and administrative management at Addington Hospital.
“The provincial government is just denying the fact that there is a major health care problem within the province. As administrators and fat cats in provincial government continue to enjoy their lives, the poor depend on a very sick public health system,” said Nkwanyana.
* Elmarie Keyser, operations director at National Renal Care, said people with chronic renal failure went in for dialysis three times a week for an average of four hours a time.
Although the severity of the consequences of not getting dialysis for the prescribed time each week depended on the patient’s condition, it did have an impact on their health, said Keyser.
“There is a build-up of fluids.The person will feel exhausted and nauseous. Not getting dialyzed really puts their lives at risk and is actually detrimental and even fatal.”
She said patients who did not receive the required time on the machine needed to complete the course at another time on the same day or to return on an unscheduled day. Blood could also be checked to see if it was clear of toxins.
According to the KZN Kidney Association, the effects on people who did not receive dialysis were caused by a build-up of toxins, since the machine removed waste and excess water from the blood, a function the kidneys could no longer perform.
The association’s members are not medical professionals but volunteers who assist people with renal failure.
Daily News