The Uganda Kidney Foundation (UKF) has said scientists in the country have started a training programme for qualified medical workers to gain specialised skills in running dialysis centers and promote prevention.
Dr Robert Kalyesubula, the president of UKF, told our reporter that this would improve quality of and access to care as the burden of kidney disease rises in the country.
He said the trainees in Uganda will gain practical skills through placement in Kiruddu Hospital, Mulago Hospital, St Francis Hospital Nsambya and BHL dialysis clinic in Kampala.
The trainers said 80 people have so far graduated from the hemodialysis course which started in 2020.
They also asked hospitals with dialysis centers to contract or employ the dialysis technicians.
Dr Peace Bagasha, a kidney specialist from Kiruddu Hospital, who is leading the training of the technicians, said the graduates would also improve kidney disease prevention campaigns.
According to a 2022 report titled ‘Global Dialysis Perspective: Uganda,’ which was published in the scientific journal Kidney360, the prevalence of Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) in the community in Uganda ranges from two percent to seven percent, and up to 15 percent among patients with HIV or hypertension.
