Mozambique’s largest hospital needs 21 hemodialysis machines

Maputo Central Hospital (HCB), Mozambique’s largest, needs at least 21 hemodialysis machines to help kidney failure patients being treated in the unit, a source at the facility said on Thursday.

Elsa Chissiko, director of the hemodialysis service at HCM, shared information after the delivery of two machines for the treatment of kidney failure by the pharmaceutical company Pluribos Internacional.

“This is not enough, our capacity is 14 devices, but this is the Maputo Central Hospital, with a very large number of beds, we will need 35 to 40 devices,” Kissiko said, speaking to reporters.

A total of 76 patients are receiving chronic hemodialysis treatment at the service, which is intended to last “the rest of their lives”, while other patients are seeking treatment for treatable acute kidney failure, he added.

“It is impossible to respond to the demands of the hospital, we are responding as best we can, we see patients coming from all the doors of the Maputo Central Hospital,” he said, noting that patients who started looking for other wards end up referred for hemodialysis. because they suffer from kidney disease.

The person in charge stated that ten patients treated at HCM’s hemodialysis service died in 2024 due to complications related to kidney failure.

On average, thousands of HCM patients are diagnosed with kidney problems, some requiring chronic hemodialysis and others with treatable kidney failure.

Elsa Kissiko emphasized that each patient undergoing treatment pays between 10 thousand (145.8 euros) and 15 thousand meticais (218.9 euros) for each of the three required weekly sessions, recognizing this amount as expensive for a country with a poverty level of 68. 2%. , according to official data.