The Tonga Cabinet has approved the establishment of a Renal Dialysis Unit at the Vaiola Hospital, the Minister of Health Hon. 'Uliti Uata said at Vaiola Hospital yesterday, March 6, but on the condition that there would be public consultation on the subject and public participation in the running of the unit.

'Uliti said that financial constraints Tonga had prevented its own Renal Dialysis facility to cater for the need of its over 200 patients, who suffer from chronic kidney disease, previous governments did not want the Ministry to use money from its annual budget allocation to fund a Renal Dialysis Unit, but the new government considered "it is our duty to look after the public."

The minister gave an example of a drunkard driver being rushed to Vaiola following a car crash, "we can't tell him that this is why we have been telling you to stop driving after drinking alcohol, all we have to do is to try and save his life."

He said that in the region there is a private Renal Dialysis facility in Fiji, and there are Renal Dialysis facilities in Nauru and in Samoa. He said that the facility in Samoa was set up in 2005 by the Samoan Dialysis Foundation with the assistance of the Samoan government. He said that at the moment though the government is still a partner in the project but it is funded and operated by the foundation.

'Uliti said that during a recent trip to the USA he was encouraged by Tongans to establish a Renal Dialysis facility at Vaiola so that they could visit Tonga and be able to have treatment while in the country. He said that these people could be a source of revenue for the Dialysis facility, if they charge them more than locals.

A staff member of Tonga's Ministry of Health had been to Samoa to observe how they manage their facility and the Minister was convinced that the Samoan model would be suitable for Tonga.                 

The Director of Health Dr Siale 'Akau'ola said he supported the move by government for Tonga to have its own Renal Dialysis facility and pointed out that about 60 people died annually from chronic kidney disease.

He said that the treatment options were either to migrate overseas, where they would spend the rest of their days near a  Renal Dialysis facility, acquire a donated kidney and undergo a kidney transplant operation, which would be a very expensive, or for a Renal dialysis facility to be established in Tonga at Vaiola.

He said it would cost $2.5 to $3 million to establish a Dialysis Facility but to run and to manage its operation will be a lot morel.

Siale said that in the past to address the problem of chronic kidney diseases, the ministry put the emphasis on Primary and Secondary health care because most chronic kidney disease patients originally had diabetes.

He said that a certain chronic kidney diseases can be treated at Vaiola, using the Renal Dialysis method "but with those kind of kidney diseases after a few treatments the kidney recovers and function normally, but patients with the kidney diseases that originated from diabetes they need the Renal Dialysis treatment for the rest of their lives."

Siale said that the Ministry revisted the idea of establishing a Renal Dialysis Unit, because of mounting requests from the public.