Health

Renal failure remains one of the most serious health challenges affecting thousands of indigent Nigerians. To cushion the financial burden on patients, the Federal Government under President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda has rolled out a subsidised dialysis programme, reducing the cost of treatment from ₦50,000–₦60,000 to just ₦12,000 per session. The intervention, which is part of broader health reforms, also includes the Basic Health Care Provision Fund (BHCPF) and the National Emergency Medical Services and Ambulance Scheme (NEMSAS), designed to provide free 48-hour emergency services for accident, gunshot, and other critical cases. Read Also: Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital Launches Free Emergency Ambulance System During a visit to the Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital (AKTH) Dialysis Centre, kidney patients expressed relief over the subsidy. A patient, Salihu Ahmed Dukawuya, recalled paying between ₦54,000 and ₦60,000 per dialysis session before the intervention. He said the cost later dropped to ₦20,000 and now stands at ₦12,000. Another patient, Auwal Abdullahi Aliyu from Gwale, said the reduction from ₦60,000 to ₦12,000 per session has been life-saving. Halima Abubakar, also undergoing dialysis, confirmed that she previously paid ₦60,000, then ₦55,000, ₦45,000, and ₦20,000, before the current ₦12,000 rate. All three patients appreciated the Federal Government’s intervention but appealed for complete removal of dialysis costs to further ease their burden. Speaking on the intervention, the Deputy Director of Nursing Services at AKTH, Tijjani Rahim, who doubles as Head of the Dialysis Unit, noted that the subsidy has led to a significant increase in patient turnout. He maintained that the unit now attends to 22–25 patients daily, making AKTH one of the first hospitals to benefit from the intervention. Speaking during the launch of the NEMSAS scheme at the hospital, the Chief Medical Director of AKTH, Professor Abdurrahman Abba Sheshe, confirmed that the subsidised dialysis programme has already commenced at AKTH. He revealed that the hospital has consumables to cater for 1,000 dialysis patients under the initiative. Professor Sheshe further explained that under the NEMSAS scheme, pregnant women, children, accident victims, and other emergency cases will be transported to hospitals free of charge and given 48 hours of free medical care. However, he appealed for urgent support from the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, as well as from philanthropists, to sustain the programme. Recall that on 21st August 2025, the Federal Government approved a new subsidy scheme to reduce the cost of dialysis across 11 federal tertiary health institutions spread across Nigeria’s six geopolitical zones.