Renal Unit Report

Responsible: Dr. Ivor J. Katz (Renal Unit)

The most exciting plans for the new millennium is the Renal Unit's vision to build "The Dumisane Mzamane African Institute of Kidney Diseases".

Dr. Mzamane a former head of this department and the first black nephologist was one of the first people to protest the inequality of renal care provided to black patients. However, despite his tireless protest he never lived to witness improved renal facilities. This facility will be a tribute to him and all those fighting for better care of our patients.

A proposal has been drawn up and this vision fits into the existing developments of other specialist departments such as cardiology and gastroenterolgy who both now have an institute. The area of renal medicine is presently going through a number of crises. Firstly, our present unit is dilapidated and run down and our ability to provide patients and staff with a descent facility is undermined. Secondly, there is a significant shortage of nephrologists and renal care providers in South Africa and especially the Gauteng area. Theses affects are most evident in the academic setting. The creation of an Institute such as this one will provide an exciting and innovative facility to teach, train and educate doctors, nurses, technologists and medical students.

We need a decent unit for patients and for training of staff. So hopefully by the next addition of the yearbook we will have raised the 3 million rand required. The benefits of such a facility will be for all departments who have patients with acute or chronic renal failure or kidney diseases.

Our activities over the last few years have been pre-occupied with improving the quality and looking more closely at the individual level of renal care provided to our patients. This has been brought about by various new aquisitions such as the 24 new dialysis machines and by spending more time looking at the individual patients care. We have improved the rounds, started a grand round and begun an internal education programme comprising lectures and a journal club. We also spend more time trying to get our patients transplanted.

Our improved quality of care and closer evaluation of our management has also seen us present two research papers at the African Association of Nephrology Congress in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, last year. We looked at the causes and prognostic factors of acute renal failure in our community and also evaluated our unique chronic ambulatory peritoneal dialysis programme, run by Dr. Sofianou. Our results were both interesting and exciting.

So, we have a past and a vision for our future and hope these will amalgamate in the formation of the Dumisane Mzimane African Institute of Renal Diseases. From here only the sky will be the limit.

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