Five new dialysis machines were presented to the Samoa Kidney Foundation today by the Apia Rotary Club.
The machines according to the President of the Apia Rotary Club Savave Sapolu will be used by the foundation as they serve the people of Samoa as they battle in terms of kidney health.
The total cost of the brand new machines estimated to $70,000NZD.
During Minister of Health’s speech he told the gathering the five new machines is very much needed given the number of patients who requiring dialysis.
“This donation will greatly assist the dialysis unit because we are continuing struggling to keep up with the number of people requiring dialysis,” he said.
“At the moment from the five patients that started this unit in 2006 we now have 125 patients requiring dialysis, so because of the increasing number of dialysis require at the unit the National Kidney Foundation has to increase its working hours from 6:30am to 11pm six days a week both in Upolu and Savaii.
“So this tells us of how important this service is and the increasing number of people that are coming here to do dialysis.”
[And] because the numbers of dialysis patients have increased the Minister revealed the government has approved a new location for the national kidney foundation.
“The space is becoming smaller and smaller as we receive more and more patients who are coming to do dialysis,” said Tuitama.
“At the moment there are 22 dialysis stations so when the new site is completed it will have 62 dialysis stations so that will be a great assistance.
“Therefore this donation is in line with the future plans of the extension for the National Kidney Foundation Services.”
He then acknowledges the Apia Rotary Club and all its supporters for the brand new machines and encourage the National Kidney Foundation make sure they put into good use the brand new machines.
President of the Apia Rotary Club, Savave Sapolu spoke of how they were able to put together this project.
“Last year in November we had some conversation with our Assistant District Governor for Rotary District 9920 which Samoa is part of,” he said.
“The then president Louise Main had some conversation about how we could facilitate a project that will be helpful to the people of Samoa in the area of health.
“And John Wee who is our Assistant District Governor suggested that we seek funding for some dialysis machines to send to the people of Samoa and that’s how this project came about.”
He said within two weeks of their fundraisers they were able to raise $51,000USD with the help from all of their supporters all over the world.
“There were about four clubs from across the world that donated cash to this project as well as several Rotarian districts who donated also a district designated funds to make this project possible,” he said.
“Those funds were then match by the Rotary Foundation and this is how we were able to fund these machines.
“Initially there were supposed to be only four machines and then we were able to squeeze in another one so this is why we have five brand new machines today.”
Lastly he acknowledge each and every one of their supporters who were able to make this presentation possible.
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