After Yde, Bda: Maroua Kidney Patients Protest Lack Of Dialysis Machines

By Doh Bertrand Nua in Yaounde 

Kidney patients in Maroua in the Far North region this week protested the lack of haemodialysis machines and poor treatment they undergo at the Maroua Regional hospital. The irate patients carried placards with varied messages all calling on authorities to look into their concerns and provide machines that will help take care of their situation. 

Protesting kidney patients 

The patients disclosed that the Maroua regional hospital has just a single machine that takes care of their situation and the machines for some time now not been able to dialyse them properly. 

The patients added that the ineffective functioning of the machine has forced many of them to pay heavy transportation fares to travel to Garoua in the North region for treatment.

Reacting to the protest march, the Director of Maroua Regional Hospital, Dr Gerard Fetse Tama appealed to the patients for a little time to set things in order. He said much is being done to ensure the machines are available. He called on the protesting patients to be patient, adding that the hospital will notify them once the situation has been regularised. 

The Maroua protest comes barely a week after kidney patients stormed the Bamenda regional hospital in the North West region to protest lack of machines. Theirs was provoked by the temporal shutdown of the centre as was indicated in a document signed by the hospital director. 

The situation in Bamenda isn’t any different from those in Yaounde who have incessantly protested and mounted barricades on major roads. Days after the Bamenda protest, eight new machines, eight beds, concentrated acid and normal saline were handed to the hospital. 

The donation has once more revived the haemodialysis centre in the region. It is the hope that such donations will also be made to other regions where others and suffering.