By Lwazi Raul-Shongwe
Mpumalanga MEC for Health, Sasekani Manzini, officially opened the fully functional Dialysis Unit at Rob Ferreira Tertiary Hospital in Mbombela on Thursday, 23 April 2026, marking a major step toward accessible, public-sector kidney care in the province.
The unit brings life-sustaining dialysis treatment in-house, ending the province’s reliance on private providers and cutting travel time for hundreds of patients with chronic kidney failure.
“As a province we are very much excited about the project we have started. We are very excited about the services of dialysis that we have started here at Rob Ferreira Hospital,” said MEC Manzini.
The service previously cost the department and the provincial government more than R29 million per year through private providers. We are happy that now we are doing it in-house,” Manzini added.
Since taking over the service, the unit has reportedly recorded zero mortality.
“We believe that so far; after taking over the service, we have zero mortality in this area, this means that we can do it as a public hospital. They were able to implement the service that were provided by private hospitals successfully,” said MEC Manzini.
Between April 2025 and March 2026, the unit conducted 11,194 dialysis sessions. It operates 24 hours a day with 24 dialysis machines and chairs, treating 18 patients per session.
89 Patients Absorbed from Private Sector
Dr Omah Bachir, Specialist Physician also specialising in transplants, confirmed the unit has been running since 2023 and has now formally opened after stabilising operations.
“We are proud to announce that today we are opening the Dialysis Unit at Rob Ferreira Hospital. In the last year we managed to absorb about 89 patients from the private sector, to be fully dialysed and served at Rob Ferreira Hospital,” said Dr Bachir.
The unit offers more than dialysis. “The unit is not only offering dialysis service, but also kidney biopsy because we are the only specialised unit to do kidney biopsy in the province,” he added.
Expansion Plans to Cover Rural Districts
MEC Manzini further outlined plans to replicate the model across Mpumalanga’s two tertiary hospitals and expand to regional facilities.
“What we are looking at is that we are also doing it with Witbank, because as Mpumalanga we have two Tertiary hospitals (Rob Ferreira and Witbank). We are also going to expand at Ermelo Hospital, which is one of our regional hospitals,” said Manzini.
“Having these three centres operating in the province will help us to deal with the backlog and minimise the resources that were used for the private sector to assist us as a province. We are looking at the three Districts and the three hospitals in terms of future expanding such as Nkomazi, Bushbuckridge and Dr JS Moroka in terms of covering our rural areas,” Manzini said.
She acknowledged the challenge of recruiting specialists: She emphasised that Mpumalanga is a very rural province and it’s very difficult to attract specialists. The MEC praised Dr Bachir passion and committed to working with his team on remaining service needs.
Patient Reality: 9 Years on Dialysis
Patricia Nkambule from Barberton, shared the human impact of kidney failure.
“I started struggling with kidney failure in 2017. Patients suffering from this disease have to spend up to four hours in the renal unit before you can go home. I have dialysed for over 9 years.”
The financial and social toll is heavy. “This is strenuous financially, especially as a parent, due to the medication and diet. Although the government gives us the disability grant, SASSA(South African Social Security Agency) tells us that we don’t qualify because a chronic kidney failure is not a disability. We don’t get to see our family members often because we need to be here most of the time,” said Nkambule.
Pushing Life Expectancy Past 70
MEC Manzini linked the unit to broader provincial health goals on behalf of Premier Mandla Ndlovu.
“We are very happy and excited for the people of Mpumalanga, and on behalf of our premier – Honourable Mandla Ndlovu, to say that this is the work that we are doing as the province and we want our people to live longer, up to 70 years and above life expectancy. This zero mortality with this service is contributing towards that,” she said.
