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Two haemodialysis machines have been installed in Somaliland to treat kidney patients who previously had to seek treatment in other countries.

The machines were donated to Somaliland by the United Arab Emirates Red Crescent in 2009, but had not been operational until now.

"They were not installed [because] we did not have anyone available [with the knowledge] to install them and provide training," Somaliland Minister of Health Dr. Hussein Muhumed Mohamed told Sabahi.

He said the ministry has hired technicians and doctors from India to install and operate the machines, as part of the government's mission to upgrade healthcare services in the country.

"There is a great demand in Somaliland because many patients that suffer from high blood pressure, diabetes and nephritis have been experiencing kidney failure, thus requiring dialysis," he said. "These machines will not replace the patients' kidneys, but they can be used to treat them for the time being."

Mohamed said there are not enough machines in the country to treat the high number of patients in need of dialysis. To help meet the demand, he said, the dialysis machine that was initially taken to Bur'o will be returned to Hargeisa General Hospital. He also said that the government is expecting to receive three second-hand machines from the UK government soon.

The minister said the government is working to make healthcare more accessible. "We are trying our best to make healthcare affordable to citizens who are low-income earners and who face difficulties obtaining medical services in Addis Ababa," Mohamed said.

Dr. Ahmed Weli Dahir, head of the haemodialysis unit at Hargeisa General Hospital, told Sabahi that the patients from Somaliland used to seek medical services in places such as Addis Ababa, Dubai, Malaysia, Djibouti and Nairobi. "These patients used to incur travel and treatment expenses of up to $5,000," he said.

Dahir is among 30 Somali doctors sent by Finland's foreign ministry in partnership with the International Organisation for Migration to help provide healthcare in Somaliland.

Dahir told Sabahi that the machines are operational three days per week and can provide dialysis to six patients. "Every kidney patient who requires dialysis needs to undergo treatment twice a week," he said, adding that each patient pays $70 per visit.

Dahir is training 12 local health professionals in the technology to take over haemodialysis treatment from foreign doctors. He said they are two months into a three-month training.

Even though many kidney patients can benefit from the haemodialysis services, they may still find the fee expensive.

Laila Jama is a mother of eight whose husband suffers from high blood pressure and was the first patient to receive dialysis services last month. She said the doctors advised her to take her husband for dialysis treatment twice a week for a year.

But Laila, who sells qat in Hargeisa, told Sabahi that she cannot afford the dialysis fee. "I cannot afford to pay $70 every time I take my husband to the hospital for dialysis, due to my low income," she said.

The health minister said the business community should help support the government's efforts to make important treatments available and efficient by donating money to run and maintain the machines.

"We cannot tell those who cannot pay the dialysis fee to just die if they fail to pay," Mohamed said. "It is our responsibility to provide them with the healthcare services. We have to seek the support of the business people to donate charity to the hospitals to help us run the project."