The Universities are the Bolgatanga Technical University (BTU) in the Bolgatanga Municipality and the Regentropfen University College (ReCAS) located at Namoo in the Bongo District.
Presenting the cash to the management of the hospital, the group underscored the significance of the dialysis centre to the provision of quality healthcare services and noted that the donation was from personal contributions of serial callers and their fans of the two university radio stations.
Mr Peter Anaba Nsoh, a Member of the Serial Callers, noted that data from the Ghana Health Service had shown that due to lack of dialysis machines and services, many people had lost their lives over the years.
He said the situation was worse among vulnerable people who had financial challenges travelling to well-equipped health facilities outside the region to access medical treatment and there was the need for stakeholders to support efforts towards the establishment of the dialysis in the region.
He expressed the hope that the gesture would contribute to ongoing efforts and appealed to the government and other individuals and organisations to support the initiative to establish the dialysis centre in the region to help save lives.
Receiving the cash, Mr Justice Dadson, the Head of Finance at the Regional Hospital, thanked the Serial Callers and their supporters for their generosity and noted that it would go a long way to support the efforts made so far.
“We want to thank you very much and assure you that the money will be put into good use to ensure that the dialysis centre works effectively and efficiently to ensure that our kidney and health issues are properly settled and efficiently managed in the region so people will not have to travel down south to seek medical care,” he said.
The Upper East Regional Hospital in Bolgatanga is the major referral hospital for providing critical and essential healthcare services for residents of the 15 Municipal and Districts as well as parts of the North East Region.
Patients from neighbouring countries such as Togo and Burkina Faso also access the hospital for various healthcare services, but the hospital constantly rely on the Tamale Teaching Hospital in the Northern Region for dialysis services for patients who have kidney failure because the region does not have a dialysis centre.
Statistics from the Regional Hospital reveal that 15 out of the 30 people who had kidney related diseases and required dialysis services in 2022 died.
This raised lots of concerns among stakeholders and the management of the Regional Hospital among other stakeholders begun a campaign to establish a dialysis centre in the region which have so far attracted various support from the public.
So far, the structure to serve as the centre has been renovated with some of the machines and equipment being installed and would begin operations within the year.
