Yobe Govt Spends N360m On Free Dialysis

The Yobe State Government said it spends about N360 million annually to provide free dialysis treatment to kidney patients at the Yobe State University Teaching Hospital (YSUTH), Damaturu.

The Chief Medical Director (CMD) of the hospital, Baba Goni, disclosed this in an interview with newsmen in Damaturu.

Goni said the hospital conducts between 600 and 700 free haemodialysis sessions every month under the programme introduced by the state government in 2017.

According to him, the government spends about N30 million monthly to sustain the free dialysis programme.

“In dialysis, you don’t count the number of patients because one patient can have two or three sessions in a week,” he said.

He explained that a single dialysis session costs about N50,000 in other teaching hospitals, excluding the cost of drugs, laboratory investigations and admission where necessary.

The CMD said the state government had signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with a reputable company supplying dialysis consumables to ensure the sustainability of the programme.

He added that YSUTH also provides free fistula surgery for patients with chronic kidney disease to create the vascular access required for dialysis.

According to him, vascular surgeons are invited to perform the procedures, while the hospital bears the cost of their services and procures the necessary consumables.

Goni disclosed that the hospital had recently acquired a water treatment plant and five additional dialysis machines, bringing the number of functional machines at the facility to 11.

He also said plans were at an advanced stage to establish another dialysis centre at the Specialist Hospital, Gashua, which he described as the epicentre of kidney disease in the state.

The CMD said the proposed Gashua dialysis centre was captured in the 2026 state budget, describing the development as part of the government’s efforts to reduce the hardship faced by kidney patients.

“Recently, we travelled to Ghana with the Commissioner for Health, where we negotiated with some partners to bring in these dialysis machines and train our nurses and medical engineers who will maintain them,” he said.

Goni said the new centre would soon commence services, enabling patients in Gashua and surrounding communities to access dialysis without travelling to Damaturu.

“This will save them the inconvenience and transportation costs of coming to Damaturu for treatment,” he said.

He appealed to residents to understand the complexities involved in planning and implementing government projects, noting that such processes often take time.

The CMD further disclosed that a preliminary report from the 2025 kidney disease research sponsored by the state government and conducted in Gashua would soon be submitted to Governor Mai Mala Buni for necessary action.

He, however, cautioned against drawing conclusions from the preliminary findings on the possible causes of kidney disease in the area until the report had been thoroughly scrutinised.

Goni stressed that conclusions based on unclear or insufficient findings could have economic consequences, underscoring the need for proper analysis before establishing causality.