Each of the 47 counties will have at least one dialysis and treatment centre by the end of October this year, the Ministry of Health has said.
According to Health PS Dr Nicholas Muraguri, workers are currently being trained to offer the specialised services once the specialised machines are distributed across the counties.
It is expected that the new machines once disburded, will bring a sigh of relief to thousands of Kenyans that have been forced to put up with their relatives in the few urban centres that have the machines so as to access the life-saving dialysis treatment.
The said machines have been acquired through managed equipment and services project, an initiative that is a partnership of the counties and the national government.
Muraguri said that barely three years ago, dialysis services and treatment were only available at Kenyatta National Hospital, Moi Teaching and Referral Eldoret Hospital and the Nakuru Provincial General Hospital.
“Kenyans have had to find their alternative ways to reach to any of these three facilities to get services, yet the rule is that no one should be compelled to make such long journeys to access dialysis services,” he said.
It is just last week that 37 health experts graduated from the East African Kidney Institute, and they will now be tasked to go and work at the new centres in Embu, Garissa, Machakos, Bomet and Nyamira counties.