Patients with chronic kidney disease are advocating for early diagnosis to curb disease progression in the face of healthcare uncertainties occasioned by the unstable health insurance scheme.

Peter Kamau, a kidney transplant warrior, wants the government to subsidise the cost of drugs for renal patients, saying it’s untenable.

He spends up to Sh40,000 a month, and yesterday as he joined Kenyans to mark the World Kidney Day celebrations at the Kenyatta National Hospital he said the amount is way too much for a young man like himself.
Kamau called on patients with any chronic disease to seek early treatment, arguing that timely diagnosis will go a long way in reducing the overall cost of management.

“My parting shot to everyone is that it’s good to go to the hospital, to disrupt disease progression, especially among patients with chronic disease.

“You can actually get rid of it if you do it early enough because you can get the drugs,” he said.

Kamau said when patients allow a disease to progress, it becomes costly but early involvement of doctors will minimise the possibility of a transplant, which is a lot of money.

This is particularly in view of the amount patients – who are lucky to have the Social Health Authority (SHA) offsetting some of the costs – get.
“Let’s say it helps for four or five months, but then you get these drugs that the patient has to use for the rest of their life, and this raises out of pocket expenditure,” he said.

Doc’s take

John Gikonyo, a renal patient, also called on early intervention before the health system gets overwhelmed by the ever-rising cost of Kidney Disease (KD) management.

He also called for the fast tracking of the process of formulating a Diseased Organ Donation Programme, which has remained stuck somewhere forever.

“We need this process to enable our patients to gain from an expanded organ donor pool,” he said, noting that currently, patients can only seek donors from among their blood relatives and spouses, and this is to some extent a limiting factor for access to Transplants.

“I also want to reiterate the urgency of the National Kidney Disease Database, which is a prerequisite for proper planning and advocacy for allocation of resources,” he said.

A few years ago, Kenya was bestowed the honour of hosting the East African Kidney Institute (EAKI), which is touted to become a centre of excellence for kidney health.

But yesterday, Gikonyo noted that progress of having it up and running has uncomfortably stalled, and unable to start operations despite being fully funded.

“We beseech the concerned parties to expedite the completion and inauguration of this facility so that it can start serving the EA Population as intended,” he called.

However, he had a few nice things to say about the SHA scheme.
“2025 is an exciting year for those of us in the Kidney Health space, locally and internationally. Locally, we have made significant strides recently, notably the SHA Renal benefits Package. These benefits now include a pre-Transplant evaluation cover (new), an enhanced cover for transplant with Sh700,000 for recipient and Sh165,000 for donor and a Post-Transplant management cover at Sh200, 000 per year,” he said.

Great barrier

Gikonyo said that prayers for Post-Transplant drugs to cover renal patients have finally been answered, removing what has been a great barrier to transplant. He sees this as an opportunity for an increase in kidney Transplants going forward.

“SHA is still paying for two sessions of dialysis per patient per week at Sh10,650 per session, up from Sh9,500 previously paid by NHIF.

“We have seen increased investment and innovation in the dialysis space. We have more dialysis units, including a mobile dialysis unit launched last month in Muranga county, and increased installation of HDF dialysis technology, most recently at the Jaramogi Oginga Odinga Teaching and Referral Hospital in Kisumu County,” he added.

He expressed hope that the SHA benefits, investments and innovations will deliver a better quality of life for all persons living with kidney failure.
Construction of he East African Kidney Institute started in 2019, and it’s touted to be East Africa’s centre of excellence in Urology and Nephrology in the region.

“It will facilitate the vision of strengthening health training, research and provision of quality Urology and Nephrology services to Kenyans and East Africans at large,” the Ministry of Health has previously said.

In its modern design, the building oozes an earthly brown multi-story tripartite shape with a flattering exterior.

When complete, the exterior of the five-storey building will display the sugar cookie cream colour interspersed with alluring blue window panes. Some rooms of the interior, on the other hand, will spot a rough magenta pink.

It will have 25 wards, laboratories, surgical theatres, high-dependency units, consultation rooms and parking yards.

Kidney disease, especially chronic kidney disease (CKD), is often caused by underlying conditions like diabetes and high blood pressure, which damage the kidneys’ filtering units over time. Other factors include genetic disorders, infections, and certain medications.

Kidney failure symptoms include: decreased amount of urine, oedema (fluid or water retention — most commonly swollen ankles), confusion, nausea and feeling breathless. The main treatment options for chronic kidney failure are dialysis — which helpd removes waste and extra fluid from your blood through either haemodialysis or peritoneal dialysis.

The second option is a kidney transplant — where you receive a healthy kidney from a donor.