Samoa's new renal dialysis unit has opened this morning at the Tupua Tamasese Meaole Memorial Hopital in Apia.
The unit has 12 machines and has been set up jointly with the National Kidney Foundation in Singapore.
The chief executive officer at the Health Ministry, Palanitina Toelupe, says they will first concentrate on treating the four patients who have been receiving treatment in New Zealand:
"There will be people from this country that are being treated in American Samoa that would like to return, but the number will be used up it will build up slowly its just that we are are focusing on those whose care is being provided in New Zealand and who are coming to start off operations on the fourth of April"
The Health Minister has said that 760 thousand US dollars have been spent annually on overseas treatment for people with kidney problems.
