The Graham & Kolff Renal Therapy (GKRT) centre hosted their official opening at their Albany Road complex on Thursday, July 28.
GKRT is a renal company that specialises in the treatment of patients with chronic and acute kidney disease.
The founder and CEO of GKRT, Thiecouta Traore, established the centre last year when he saw the need to cut traveling costs for patients residing in town. “Patients from Port Alfred used to travel to PE or East London for treatment, which obviously posed a risk to their health and lifestyle. The goal became to alleviate the burden of traveling and therefore improving the odds for a better prognosis,” he said.
The Port Alfred centre is the fifth branch of the GKRT Group, with other centres operating in Bloemfontein, Burgersfort, Gqeberha and Makhanda. The nephrologist is in charge of standard operation and management of the centres.
At the official opening, Traore’s presentation brought awareness about kidney failure and introduced a testing program, Early D, which the centre is implementing to help patients detect renal disease earlier to get the needed treatment much sooner. “Early D would help identify patients at risk at a much earlier stage of their renal disease therefore starting treatment sooner and increasing the chances of survival,” he said. The GKRT Group is hoping to treat more patients with the introduction of the early detection programme.
In his presentation about renal failure, Traore highlighted peritoneal dialysis which he explained as one of the most gentle types of Renal replacement therapy. The costs of such treatments is quite expensive, with a session costing about R2000 because everything is used once and discarded after every single treatment.
“The equipment used is of very good quality. We consume a fair amount of electricity and water, therefore the costs of running such an operation can rise high. If you include load shedding and water shortages then it becomes a tall order,” he said. Adding that it is, however, all worth it when patients no longer have to travel to PE or East London for treatment and appreciate the convenience and time saved by not traveling on such roads up to three times a week.
GKRT offers different types of treatment including but not limited to Chronic Haemodialysis and Acute Haemodialysis. The centre also offers clinical education and support for patients in stage 1 to stage 4 CKD.
