NAIROBI, Kenya, Feb 14- Kenyatta National Hospital has established a HLA Tissue Typing Centre, enabling compatibility tests for kidney transplants to be now conducted locally.
This is good news to kidney patients who will no longer have to travel abroad to South Africa or India for tests when seeking transplants.
“This was a big issue because all patients projected for Kidney Transplantation could not access these services locally. All the compatibility tests were referred either to South Africa or India,” said Kilivwa Mukaya, a Molecular specialist at KNH.
He added: “This process delayed interventional time. It also increased the cost of carrying out this transplantation procedure.”
According to Dr. John Ngigi, a nephrologist and Senior Director Kenyatta Prime Care Clinic, KNH handles 130 patients that receive dialysis treatment, weekly. On average, approximately 260 patients require transplantation every year.
Nancy Wang’ombe, a Kidney Transplant co-ordinator, attributes the low number of transplant operations to the unavailability of HLA Tissue Typing services locally.
She is upbeat that the number is set to increase upon the commencement of the transplant immunology tests within KNH.
A kidney transplant is a surgical procedure to place a healthy kidney from a living or deceased donor into a person whose kidneys no longer function properly.
The kidneys are two bean-shaped organs located on each side of the spine just below the rib cage.
Each is about the size of a fist. Their main function is to filter and remove waste, minerals, and fluid from the blood by producing urine.
When your kidneys lose this filtering ability, harmful levels of fluid and waste accumulate in the body, which can raise blood pressure and result in kidney failure (end-stage kidney disease).
End-stage renal disease occurs when the kidneys have lost about 90 percent of their ability to function normally.
The Renal Unit department, KNH, has a team of specialized kidney doctors who work hand in hand with their peers from the University of Nairobi in the management of patients.
Their effort to achieve maximum success is hampered by delays in the preparation process before grafting is done.
The Ultra-modern facility has competent staff who are up to the task. Dr. Anne Baraza (Immunologist) and Dr. Kassim Ali (clinical pathologist) are leading the team.
Other players include Kilivwa J S Mukaya, Patricia Nabende, Alphonce Kioko, Jeniffer Mutua, and Mishack Kirimi. Kilivwa J S Mukaya and Alphonce Kioko attended Observership training in an HLA Tissue Typing Laboratory at Apollo Hospital, India.
The two, later on, attended a two weeks’ factory training at Immucor company, Atlanta Georgia.
With the know-how and the state-of-art equipment available coupled with the goodwill from our collaborating partners, this important facility opened its doors to clients on 14/12/2021.
This has come as a relief to our customers because our Turn Around Time (TAT) is 24 hours.
The cost of putting up and equipping a Transplant Immunology laboratory is prohibitive.
Furthermore, this concept is new in the country and Africa as a whole, save for South Africa and part of North Africa. Proposals were done for funding through Private Public Partnership (PPP) without success.
In 2015, the Africa Development Bank in partnership with the East African governments embarked on the establishment of Centres of excellence in East Africa.
Kenya was picked to host the East Africa Kidney Institute (EAKI).
This came as a blessing to the aspiration and desire to have a Transplant Immunology Laboratory within our locality.
As per the plan, the current Renal Unit would be improved to offer specialized services as well as train on behalf of EAKI. Part of the funds released for batch one equipment was used to procure LUMINEX machine, critical equipment in HLA Tissue Typing analysis.
However, this machine required more accompanying equipment and molecular reagents in order to operationalize the facility. This request was honored in 2019.
Additionally, Dr. Evanson Kamuri sourced more funds to construct the ultra-modern specialized laboratory which has unique features.
Test validation to ascertain the reliability of the results has been carried out. The hospital is moving with speed to enroll in the HLA accreditation program.
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