<p><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><img src="/nairobi/PublishingImages/Roysambu%20dialysis%20body%20image.jpg" alt="" style="margin: 5px;"/></span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><em>Caption: Mr Shawn Bolouki (left) and Mr Sammy Muthui (right) tour the facility after the opening.</em></span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Aga Khan University Hospital on Monday officially opened a new medical and dialysis centre at Jewel Complex Building in Roysambu that offers dialysis services for kidney disease patients. Mr Sammy Muthui, the Managing Director, Minet Kenya was Chief Guest.</span></p><div><br style="font-family: helvetica;"/></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Mr Shawn Bolouki, the hospital Chief Executive Officer said “Aga Khan University Hospital continues to be at the forefront of the fight against non-communicable diseases in the region. Official data shows that about four million Kenyans have some form of kidney ailment. Even with this number of patients increasing, access to dialysis services is still concentrated in major hospitals with limited access for other patients. There was therefore the need to decentralize the service to the community level.</span></div><div><br style="font-family: helvetica;"/></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">“Our University hospital has expanded access to quality health care by establishing 47 outpatient centres in the region. This new centre, - in Roysambu, is our first outpatient centre that offers Renal Dialysis. We are confident that this centre will have an impact on enabling access to dialysis services in Nairobi and its environs”, said Mr Bolouki.</span></div><div><br style="font-family: helvetica;"/></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Mr Sammy Muthui, congratulated the hospital in its massive expansion plan to take services closer to the people and urged other healthcare insurers to consider developing and financing wellness programmes to help improve the health of the community.</span></div><div><br style="font-family: helvetica;"/></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">“Currently Minet Kenya Health Insurance is working on developing modules to finance chronic and Non Communicable Diseases in the country”, said Mr Muthui.</span></div><div><br style="font-family: helvetica;"/></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Most dialysis patients residing within the greater Kasarani, Githurai and Roysambu area and its environs travel to access the service. AKUH listened to these patient’s requests to introduce a dialysis facility close to their homes for convenience. </span></div><div><br style="font-family: helvetica;"/></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">“We will have a consultant Nephrologists at specific days of the week to attend to patients and for follow-up care. Currently, the dialysis unit has four beds that can handle eight patients in a day receiving dialysis at a 4-hour interval (morning and afternoon). With increased demand, this cycle will be increased to three sessions a day handling 12 patients. We are also considering to increase the number of beds and dialysis equipment depending on monitored demand in the other medical centres”, said Mr Khurram Jamal, Director, Operations, Outreach Division, Aga Khan University Hospital.</span></div><div><br style="font-family: helvetica;"/></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Aga Khan University Hospital is committed to quality outcomes. Last year the hospital was awarded a global recognition for the excellence of the services provided by the Hospitals Laboratory by the Accreditation Committee of the College of American Pathologists (CAP). This is one of many firsts for the hospital having been the first to be awarded the prestigious ISO 9001:2000 (now ISO 9001:2008) by the International Organization for Standardization, and the first in East and Central Africa to achieve the internationally recognised Joint Commission International accreditation that is recertified every three years. As the hospital celebrates 60 years of taking care of families in East Africa, it continues to affirm its commitment to achieving its vision as the leading teaching and tertiary healthcare institution in sub-Saharan Africa.</span></div>
