Lagos government denies claim about Alimosho hospital's dialysis machines

The Lagos State government has rejected claims that only one dialysis machine works at Alimosho General Hospital in Igando.

Lagos State Commissioner for Health, Akin Abayomi, clarified this in a post on X on Sunday. He said all eight dialysis machines at the hospital's dialysis centre are in good working condition.

PREMIUM TIMES traced the claim to a video posted by Nigerian skit maker and social media influencer Akewusola Oladipupo, also known as MC Always, on 17 September.

In the video shared on his Facebook and Instagram accounts, Mr Oladipupo expressed worry about the state of the dialysis centre. He described it as "in shambles" and "in a state of comatose."

He claimed only one dialysis machine was operational and asked how staff could support patients with so few machines. Mr Oladipupo also mentioned that the hospital's generator runs from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. He pointed out that a dialysis session lasts at least four hours, questioning how they could serve patients with just one working machine among what he thought were 10 to 15 machines.

"So all the people that have kidney problems in Lagos are in serious problem," he said. He asked, "What does it take to fix these machines?" He added that the centre was not taking new patients and was only attending to those already on treatment.

In his post, Mr Abayomi stated that the claim about having only one working dialysis machine was not true. The post included a video showing various parts of the dialysis centre and its machines. Mr Abayomi confirmed that the centre has eight machines, and all of them are functional.

He explained that six of the machines cater to general dialysis patients, while two are for patients living with HIV or hepatitis, following infection prevention guidelines.

He said dialysis sessions start as early as 6 a.m. and may continue until the last patient is seen, sometimes going on until midnight. "We run up to 200 dialysis sessions every month," Mr Abayomi added. He also mentioned that the centre has a dedicated standby generator.

The commissioner listed other public hospitals in Lagos that offer dialysis services. These include Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH), General Hospital Lagos, General Hospital Gbagada, Infectious Diseases Hospital (IDH) in Yaba, and Federal Medical Centre (FMC) in Ebute Metta.