Yejide Ajkaiie knows it well. From Lagos in Nigeria, Ajkaiie underwent kidney transplantation in March last year, but had to return in December because the required drugs were not available. While here, she also had a cataract operation on her left eye. She’s back again, this time for a cataract operation on her right eye and for stocking more medicines. “There is no facility for stem-cell transplantation in Nigeria and the life-saving drugs are expensive. I had to undergo dialysis for a year but couldn’t afford it any longer,” she says. Now, every time Ajkaiie visits Ahmedabad, she takes back drugs that cost 10 times more in Nigeria.

But treating the Africans is not easy for the IKDRC doctors. For one, many patients have other complexities besides the kidney problem. While nearly 10 per cent suffer from bone diseases, some even have AIDS. As the hospital is not equipped to handle these, it has to turn them back. Then there’s the problem of money, with many requesting subsidised treatment.

Immanuel Gitan, a Kenyan who visited the hospital in March this year, ran out of money after he was operated upon thrice for renal transplantation as he was suffering from Male Lupus, a complication that makes a body reject a new kidney.

“Many a times we have to succumb to their demands as we can’t let a patient die. In several cases, a person discovers a complication that forces him to stay longer than he had planned or undergo multiple operations, thereby stretching his resources and landing him in trouble,” says Trivedi.

... contd.