Did You Know?

The United Nations sets out March 14th every year to celebrate World Kidney day. In Nigeria, it is estimated that 18,000 patients need dialysis yearly and about 25 million Nigerians have kidney failure . https://m.guardian.ng/news/25m-Nigerians-have-kidney-failure-says-nephrologists/
 Did you know that for over a decade, the Aminu Kano teaching hospital has been into the business of giving patients with Kidney failure another chance of living through successful Kidney transplants. Not many persons or hospitals know about this. Just last year, a woman I know had kidney failure and the best the hospital could do was to place her on dialysis while advising the family to take her abroad for a transplant. When I came back home during Christmas and was told the cause of the death, I was very disappointed. Disappointed that a teaching hospital could not do a Kidney transplant and disappointed that I could have done something about it after all. I felt the regret in the eyes of the bereaved but then, it was too late. Her mother was gone. Many patients have lost their lives because they couldn't afford the cost of going abroad. There's a goodnews! Something good can afterall come out of Nigeria...

 Dr. Njeakor Ifeanyichukwu Henry is a specialist urologist at the Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital Kano State and he would  be briefing us on the successes recorded so in the field of Kidney transplant.

  What is a Kidney transplant?
A kidney Transplant is a surgical procedure where one kidney from a donor is taken and given to a recipient after series of test to determine that they are compatible.

AKTH has been known to have carried out many successful KT. When did the hospital start and what's the success rate on a scale of 1-10?

For the success rate, I'll say it's nine out of ten.
AKTH started Kidney Transplant on the 13th of February 2002.

On the average, how much does it cost to do a Kidney transplant in AKTH? 

It costs between 3.5 - 5million naira.

What advice would you possibly give a patient who intends to go abroad for a KT?

Well, for patients who have Chronic Kidney Disease and require Transplant, AKTH has had a series of successful Transplants dating back to 2002 with trained Urologists, Nephrologists, Renal Transplant Nurses and Intensivists who have been trained and specialise in this procedure. In other words, the hospital with its team of trained experts, can handle a kidney transplant here in Nigeria.

Spread the word! Patients of kidney failure needn't go abroad for a transplant. Wetin we dey fain for Sokoto dey for our shokoto . For this milestone, I'll say a big kudos to the management of the hospital and also pray that the government sees to it that the fees are subsidised as much as possible to accommodate patients of all social class
But in all, prevention is still very much cheaper than the cure. Take good care of your kidney, it doesn't cost a thing!