Information and Media Permanent Secretary Thabo Kawana has charged that civil activist Laura Miti has exhibited full-blown ignorance over the issue of access to dialysis services for renal patients in Zambia.
At a press briefing to address what he termed as high levels of misinformation following a picture he had posted to social media of himself receiving dialysis at Kitwe Teaching Hospital, Kawama—who has made his condition public—stated that dialysis services were now fully paid for by the government under NHIMA and are not a preserve of the rich as was being asserted.
He said he was alarmed to read Laura Miti’s post, wherein she seems to suggest that he was seated in some luxurious place posting and he’s privileged because he is a permanent secretary while the poor could not afford dialysis.
“I posted a picture of myself at the weekend in Kitwe when dialyzing from Kitwe Teaching Hospital and I’ve seen reactions from certain people, which I ignored but I realized this was growing and the level of misinformation was growing too and today I got alarmed when I saw a very senior person in civil society expressing full blown ignorance over this matter so I decided to address it.”
He explained that prior to taking a political appointment while in opposition he served as the president of the Kidney Foundation of Zambia and during his tenure they engaged tirelessly with the Ministry of Health lobbying for dialysis services, covering consumables and medicine, to be provided free of charge by the government through NHIMA but the response was that it couldn’t be included because it was very expensive.
“Dialysis is very, very expensive and we have been fighting for dialysis to be given to the people of Zambia. For you to get consumables and other attendant medications that come with dialyzing you spend about K3,000 per session, meaning K9,000 per week. Many people could not afford that,” explained Kawana.
“During our tenure, we fought hard to lobby for resources from individuals and corporate organizations so we were buying consumables and sharing with fellow patients to keep us going.”
He said he made it a campaign promise that if people voted for the UPND, dialysis would be put on NHIMA and become free.
“When we won, the first thing we did was to approach the Ministry of Health and lobbied the government that renal treatment in its entirety must go on NHIMA and the government must pay. Today, as we speak, dialysis in this country is free of charge. Patients are going to various centers around the country and are not required to pay provided you are a member of NHIMA and we have got centers in various places even those that were previously not covered, like Mongu,” he stated.
“So, before we go off blowing your rooftops, those beautiful facilities you are seeing are in government hospitals because this is a serious government. Let us not run with this misinformation that it is so expensive only the rich can afford it, only he can afford it because he is a PS, no. This is not a government for rich people, it is a government for the people of Zambia and this government has ensured that services such as dialysis among other health services are paid for by the government. Today, you can go and have a caesarian operation to give birth at a government hospital. Bally continues to pay.”
He counseled people to avoid “out of ignorance coming out very loud because you sort of then expose that ignorance” because Zambia offers free dialysis to everybody with no classes involved.
“The majority of people on this treatment are very poor. I know, I meet these people, I’m on this treatment and I can tell you that this government has taken care of them. They get dialysis for free, they get medicines for free, they are able to go to government or private institutions.”
And Augustine Mukuka from the Kidney Foundation of Zambia, who was invited to address the press alongside Kawana, backed up the Permanent Secretary regarding the provision of renal treatment at no cost to citizens.
Mukuka added that it was not only dialysis being provided for free but also kidney transplant operations.
“We also managed to engage NHIMA through the government so that even kidney transplant is offered for free to patients. It costs about $14,000 per patient,” he said.
He disclosed that some renal treatment centers like Mongu and Kasama may be recommended for closure because no patients were being attended to, hence, the machines were incurring maintenance costs without being used.
“No patients are being attended to even after installing those very expensive machines. The machines can’t stay without being used for a long time so they have to run them periodically, which is very costly,” explained Mukuka.
