By CHIOMA OBINNA

As the cost of kidney dialysis services in the country continue to shoot through the roof, a renal technologist, Mr. Olutade Ojebali, is advocating for setting up of more dialysis centres in the country to enable significant reduction of the cost of the service.

Ojebali, who trained in the United Kingdom and is Managing Director, Rigi Med Nigeria – suppliers of medical equipment – opined that because the Nigerian dialysis industry is still at an early stage, patients in need of dialysis treatment are grossly under served.

“Only about 1,000 patients are currently being treated in Nigeria, though the figure that should be treated ought to be more or less between 20,000 to 50,000.”

The low accessibility to kidney dialysis treatment, he argued are due ro high cost. “Normally, as a dialysis patient, you will have to go for 156 treatments a year, and if you were living far away from a medical provider or couldn’t afford the treatments, this option will not be available, which unfortunately normally result into death in a couple of years.”

He said part of his resolve to make it easier on Nigerians is the need to keep the cost of treatment low by lowering prices of equipment and consumables. He said the firm would participate at the 2011 edition of the West African Health Conference and Exhibition (WAH 2011), taking place in Lagos September 7-9, 2011.