Lured by good treatment and cheap medical care, Africans in need of kidney transplants are trooping into an Ahmedabad hospital
At 43, hope was Beth Muthonis only crutch as she clung to life. In far away Nairobi, Kenyas capital, renal transplant was a daring dream and expensive medical care an unavoidable nightmare. So the housewife just waitedand listened to radio, where one day she heard of a man who had undergone kidney transplant in Ahmedabad, India. The cost wasnt prohibitive, the distance bridgeable. So Muthoni clung tighter to hope and caught the next plane to India along with her cousin Ruth and caretaker Joyce Wainaina. Soon, Muthoni hopes to have Ruths kidney and a new life.
Besides Muthoni, patients from African countries are flocking to the Institute of Kidney Disease & Research Centre (IKDRC) at Ahmedabads Civil Hospital. According to hospital records, of the 231 patients who were operated upon in 2006, 29 belonged to countries like Kenya, Uganda and Nigeria. More than a hundred foreign nationals have been operated upon in the past three years.
The hospital is very popular in our country and the local media in Nairobi plays it up. Apart from the journalist who was interviewed on radio, we know of a large number of people who have been successfully operated upon, says Wainaina.
The hospitals reputation has carried through word of mouth, agrees Dr H.L. Trivedi, director of the institute. The fact that the treatment here is far cheaper than in their own countries or in South Africa and Englandwhere they went for treatment earlieris a big draw.
It all began when Trivedi conducted a renal transplant surgery on a Ugandan ambassador to Italy, who soon returned for treatment of an abscess in his leg. Today, there are other reasons that pull in the Africans. These three countriesNigeria, Kenya and Ugandaare facing national crises. Besides the treatment, many drugs are not available or are very expensive. The monopoly of pharmaceutical companies and political corruption doesnt help, adds Trivedi.
Yejide Ajkaiie knows it well. From Lagos in Nigeria, Ajkaiie underwent kidney transplantation in March last year, but had to return in December because the required drugs were not available. While here, she also had a cataract operation on her left eye. Shes back again, this time for a cataract operation on her right eye and for stocking more medicines. There is no facility for stem-cell transplantation in Nigeria and the life-saving drugs are expensive. I had to undergo dialysis for a year but couldnt afford it any longer, she says. Now, every time Ajkaiie visits Ahmedabad, she takes back drugs that cost 10 times more in Nigeria.
But treating the Africans is not easy for the IKDRC doctors. For one, many patients have other complexities besides the kidney problem. While nearly 10 per cent suffer from bone diseases, some even have AIDS. As the hospital is not equipped to handle these, it has to turn them back. Then theres the problem of money, with many requesting subsidised treatment.
Immanuel Gitan, a Kenyan who visited the hospital in March this year, ran out of money after he was operated upon thrice for renal transplantation as he was suffering from Male Lupus, a complication that makes a body reject a new kidney.
Many a times we have to succumb to their demands as we cant let a patient die. In several cases, a person discovers a complication that forces him to stay longer than he had planned or undergo multiple operations, thereby stretching his resources and landing him in trouble, says Trivedi.
Lack of post-operation medical care in their own countries also forces them to return. Take George Gobba, a Ugandan patient who underwent kidney transplant last year. Due to lack of proper care, his kidney failed and he is back in the hospital, but is yet to undergo surgery as he has run out of money. The hospital authorities have allowed me to stay here and people are giving me money so I can survive, he says.
Another unlikely problem is the agents who are fleecing these cash-strapped foreigners by ferrying them to the hospital. We have also been asked by the police to provide them the details of Nigerian patients as drug peddlers are likely to sneak in masquerading as patients, says Trivedi.
Despite the irritants, the flow of Africans hasnt ebbed or will in the near future. Hope, after all, is infectious.
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