Dr. Philip Chepting'a, a pediatric nephrologist at MTRH in Eldoret town [Photo/Elvinas Ronoh]
A red flag has been raised over an acute shortage of specialists who can handle kidney complications during dialysis treatment.According to a Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital pediatric nephrologist Dr. Philip Chepting'a, the shortage of nephrologists in the health facilities including the major referral hospitals in the country is causing overstretch in the renal units.This, he says, has been leading to delays for patients seeking affordable health care."Going by this rate, it means that every kidney specialist who handle adult kidney complication deals with two million cases, while the pediatric nephrologists handles about 10 million cases," lamented Dr. Chepting'a, as quoted by Nation.Dr. Chepting'a said the country has less than 30 kidney specialists with only 24 nephrologists to handle adult patients and five nephrologists for children."There are only eight transplant surgeons for adults, six of whom are based at Kenyatta National Hospital in Nairobi and two at MTRH. There is no kidney surgeon for children in the country," he noted.The specialists are expected to treat more than 40 million people pacing the ratio of the nephrologists to the patient at one to one million.With kidney patients seeking treatment abroad, Dr. Chepting’a says the country losses close to Sh20 billion annually.