Abdussalam was diagnosed with kidney failure seven years ago and his contracting job has become nearly impossible because he receives daily dialysis treatment in the Tajura Dialysis Center (TDC), in eastern Libya. “Why does the state not support kidney transplants?” he wondered. “And why does it not allocate a budget for us to receive transplants abroad?”

Khadija Da’ery, 57, also needs daily dialysis sessions, and complained that she receives no vitamins after her treatments and worried about Libya’s dearth of dialysis centers.

Abdussalam was diagnosed with kidney failure seven years ago and his contracting job has become nearly impossible because he receives daily dialysis treatment in the Tajura Dialysis Center (TDC), in eastern Libya. “Why does the state not support kidney transplants?” he wondered. “And why does it not allocate a budget for us to receive transplants abroad?”

Khadija Da’ery, 57, also needs daily dialysis sessions, and complained that she receives no vitamins after her treatments and worried about Libya’s dearth of dialysis centers.

Kidney failure is one of the fastest spreading disorders in Libya, with 3,700 patients affected, according to the Ministry of Health (MoH), and with only 58 dialysis centers in the country.

A national health problem

Walid Atrash, general supervisor of TDC, which performs 56 dialysis sessions a day, says the TDC has added a night shift because of the increased number of patients. He claims that they prepare patients mentally before the sessions because some of them come to the TDC on mobile beds. “We help them leave the TDC on foot with high morale.”

Atrash says the TDC has 29 electronic devices which are in accordance with international standards, in addition to a staff comprised of eight doctors, four specialists and 30 technicians who are Libyan experts. The TDC, says Atrash, has never been closed down, even during clashes.

Chairman of the Ministry of Health (MoH) Supreme Kidney Need Committee in Tripoli Majida Bin Moussa says the MoH is developing a plan to open new dialysis centers in Libya. She underscores that in the coming period a new dialysis center will be opened in Gasr Garabulli, 80 kilometer east of Tripoli, and 35 additional devices will be provided to the Janzur Dialysis Center.

Moussa says the MoH is working on establishing a large hospital to house kidney patients in case the state budget is adopted, but without a specified time, in addition to establishing a kidney transplant center in collaboration with the National Organ Transplant Program.

Now, says Moussa, we are working on launching a campaign called ‘For them and for us,’ which will highlight patients’ talents to serve the community.

Ismail Hamidi, a doctor in the TDC – the largest dialysis center in Libya – says the TDC, like most dialysis centers in Libya, lacks advanced analysis labs.