The Federal Government has noted that Northwest states are not excluded from its ongoing Kidney Dialysis Subsidy Scheme.
The clarification follows media suggestions to the contrary. The subsidy has been in effect since earlier in the year.
“Under the scheme, the cost of a dialysis session has been reduced from ₦50,000 to ₦12,000,” Alaba Balogun, Deputy Director and Head of Information and Public Relations at the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, confirmed in a press statement on Thursday.
“This intervention is a deliberate initiative of the present administration to bring relief to patients with kidney-related diseases and expand access to universal health coverage,” Balogun explained.
The scheme is currently being implemented in eleven federal tertiary health institutions across all six geopolitical zones, including the Northwest.
The participating hospitals are: Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital, Kano; University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital, Borno; Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University Teaching Hospital, Bauchi; University of Jos Teaching Hospital, Plateau; and the National Hospital, Abuja.
Others are the Federal Medical Centre, Ebute Metta, Lagos; University College Hospital, Ibadan; University of Benin Teaching Hospital, Edo; Federal Medical Centre, Yenagoa; Federal Teaching Hospital, Owerri; and the Federal Medical Centre, Abakaliki.
Balogun added that the pilot will be expanded to include additional federal hospitals in due course to ensure more Nigerians benefit from the subsidised service.
However, implementation remains uneven. A follow-up investigation by The Guardian reveals that, five months after the policy was launched, many hospitals continue to charge between ₦35,000 and ₦100,000 per session due to a lack of federal funding.
Meanwhile, Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University Teaching Hospital (ATBUTH) in Bauchi has reported early success.
According to The Guardian, ATBUTH began offering dialysis at the subsidised rate as far back as January this year.
Its spokesman, Usman Koli, said: “ATBUTH Bauchi has been providing subsidised kidney dialysis services at the approved rate since 8 January 2025. To date, a total of 897 patients have benefited from this intervention.”
The hospital clarified that this omission from recent listings was merely an oversight and reaffirmed its alignment with the federal initiative, alongside other health interventions such as free Caesarean services and emergency care under the National Emergency Medical Service and Ambulance System (NEMSAS).
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