Dialysis patients on strike: Machines are limited but we will manage- Director

By Shanta Sih

The Director of the Buea regional hospital, Dr. Martin Mokake, has said that though the hospital has limited dialysis machines, they are doing their best to address problems raised by the patients.

“One patient cannot stay under dialysis for 4 hours while the other is dying, so there’s no harm in reducing the hours to 3 per patient. I really don’t see why they had to go to the governor’s office while I, the director is here. The machines are limited but we will manage while expecting the government to add them” he spoke in an interview addressing a protest staged by patients at the dialysis centre

“The government keeps making promises till now they have not kept to such promises. Machines are bad and they keep saying parts will come from Yaoundé till now nothing, we don’t want to die, we have families depending on us” a patient criticized government laxity.

But the Regional Director said machine parts arrived from the nation’s capital the same day they carried out the protest “The same day the patients decided to go on a strike, the machine parts arrived from Yaoundé and are already being fixed”

On October 19, 2022, dialysis patients in Buea carried out a peaceful protest. Their main concern was to tell the governor that all is not well at the centre.

These patients carried placards with inscriptions written, ‘we don’t want to die, more machines for us, we are tired of lies from the government.

They marched towards the governor’s office in Buea. They sang aloud, sending their plights far and near.

“We are hundreds of us patients with just 6 machines to carry us all, with two out of the 6 machines bad. Some of us die due to lack of time to remove all the waste in us since it’s a rush to take the next person. Sometimes before it gets to you, you totally weak” one of the patients lamented.

According to the patients, every kidney patient needs dialysis which is the clinical purification of blood as a substitute for the normal function of the kidney where all waste that should pass through urine can only be removed by dialysis with those suffering from kidney failures without which they are as good as dead.