In Ghana, kidney patients have to undergo dialysis at least 2 or 3 times every week to remove waste products from their blood when their kidneys fail or are infected.

During each dialysis session, the patient's blood is drawn from their body through a needle and passed through a special filter that removes harmful substances. The cleaned blood is then returned to the body. However, this essential procedure comes with a high financial burden for individuals.

In Ghana, the cost of each dialysis session amounts to an average of GHC 600, and this is in addition to other required medications that may cost close to GHC 300.

For kidney failure patients aiming for a higher chance of survival, regular visits to the hospital every week are necessary. Depending on the number of sessions required, individuals may end up spending either GHC 7,200 or GHC 10,800 every month on dialysis.

The seriousness of the situation cannot be understated, as failure to continue and be consistent with the dialysis sessions may put the individual's life at risk.

“As I speak, at my center; Korle Bu cannot take all of us so after admission, they give you a list of centers, and you pick the one that is closer to you. At the moment, at my center, a session is 650 cedis, and that’s just the dialysis.

“And you have to take what is called EPO Iron injection, so that your blood levels do not drop. There are two ways to make sure that your iron levels do not drop. One – your kidney does not produce the iron needed for blood production so sometimes your blood will drop if you have a kidney issue,” he said.

“And two – Because the blood passes through the dialyser or the machine, obviously at the end of every session, there is some amount of blood that is taken by the machine so you always need to be on these medications to give you that optimum level of blood and that’s 230 cedis. So you add 230 cedis to 650 cedis, that’s 900 cedis and that’s what I pay per session and I do 2 sessions a week so we are looking at about 1,800 a week for just 2 sessions of dialysis.

“When the economy challenges also came, it also impacted because all these, the materials we use for dialysis are imported. Especially from the last 3 months, there’s been an increase in price of dialysis. Of course, moving from 320 cedis to 900 cedis in just 2 years should tell you what the exchange rate has done to us,”

Organ transplantation presents a potential solution to alleviate the financial burden on individuals with kidney diseases who require constant dialysis to survive.

In healthcare, organ donation and transplantation play a vital role, saving lives and enhancing the quality of life for many. Ghana recognizes the importance of these medical interventions and is actively working to raise awareness and enact relevant legislation in this domain.

Although organ transplants can be costly, Prof. Matthew Kyei, a Urologist at the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital, highlights that undergoing a transplant saves individuals from the ongoing expenses of dialysis, which may not guarantee long-term health after 5-10 years.

However, for organ transplants to occur, appropriate legal frameworks are necessary to ensure the legal and ethical harvesting and availability of organs, such as kidneys, for patients in need.

At present, Ghana lacks proper laws governing organ harvesting, donation, and transplantation.

To address this issue, GhanaWeb, the country's leading digital news platform, is joining forces with the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital to launch an aggressive campaign. The primary goal is to advocate for comprehensive legislation that will regulate and guide organ harvesting, donation, and transplantation in the country through parliamentary approval.