The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh / Hyderabad News : Arogyasri dialysis wards to operate from tomorrow

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Thursday, Nov 05, 2009
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Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh - Hyderabad

Arogyasri dialysis wards to operate from tomorrow

Every year 7,000 new cases come for dialysis

PHOTO: P.V. SIVAKUMAR

New arrivals: Dialysis machines at the new nephrology block of Gandhi Hospital. —

HYDERABAD: The first of its kind Arogyasri dialysis wards for patients with end-stage kidney ailments will start operating simultaneously from Gandhi and Osmania General Hospitals in the twin cities and KGH in Visakhapatnam from Friday.

The inaugural event of Arogyasri dialysis wards will be muted due to the upcoming GHMC elections. In the first phase of the project, Gandhi Hospital has received 18 new dialysis machines, while OGH and KGH have received 15 and 10 dialysis units respectively.

Training

Already, 70 kidney patients have registered themselves with the nephrology department of Gandhi Hospital to avail themselves of the dialysis facility. Training sessions for technicians, nurses, doctors and paramedics for operating dialysis machines at these hospitals is already under way, officials said.

Every year 7,000 fresh cases enter into the list of patients needing dialysis in the State while the figure is 1.5 lakh in the country. Typically, a kidney patient spends anywhere between Rs. 20,000 to Rs. 30,000 per month on dialysis, consumables and medicines.

The cost prohibitive nature of dialysis treatment discourages many kidney patients from approaching private hospitals for treatment. Typically, a patient needs to undergo dialysis twice a week and the State government is expected to spend Rs. 10,000 on a single patient every month through Arogyasri.

According to authorities, a similar project of providing dialysis services to patients under insurance scheme is available at Singapore and Kula Lumpur. “There are only 200 dialysis machines in the State and majority of them are in private hospitals. This is the first time that such a large quantity of dialysis machines have been put up in government hospitals,” Principal of Gandhi Medical College, Principal and Head of Nephrology Department, and Dr. Pradeep Desphande said. The project is being taken up in collaboration with B. Braun; a German-based medical equipment company.

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