Chief Minister Oommen Chandy said that the Karunya Benevolent Fund would support poor patients by making funds available to them at the appropriate time. The technical snag in getting the facility going would soon be removed, he said. He was inaugurating the dialysis centre at the District General Hospital here that aims to provide dialysis at subsidised rates.
The State government would consider providing the kind of dialysis treatment set up at the hospital to all patients in the State who have to resort to dialysis as the only way of survival, said the Chief Minister.
The practical problems will be looked into to make such a facility viable in all 14 districts, he said.
The dialysis centre at GH aims to provide 5,000 free dialyses in the next two years. The centre was set up with a contribution of Rs.1.5 crore from various government and voluntary agencies. The centre will work only one shift in the beginning, but will move to three shifts soon.
A dialysis would cost only Rs.100. The fee would be waived off for some patients based on their need. A committee chaired by the District Collector of which the district medical officer would be a member would choose the beneficiaries. The 12 dialysis machines at the centre are placed in an air-conditioned hall with each bed fitted with a television set.
The Rotary Club of Cochin Global provided Rs.50 lakh for the centre, along with Rs.31.5 lakh by the district administration and Rs.30 lakh from the National Rural Health Mission. The building for the dialysis centre was built with Rs.20 lakh provided by the Shihab Thangal Relief Cell.
Charles Diaz, MP, the Sai Trust and K.P. Hussain have donated one dialysis machine each for the centre. Sai Trust, through the Navajeevan Centre, has provided over 1.2 lakh free dialyses so far.
The function was presided over by Hibi Eden, MLA. District Collector P.I. Shiekh Pareed; Mayor Tony Chammany; deputy mayor B. Bhadral K. Babu, Dominic Presentation and Ludy Luiz, MLAs; district panchayat president Eldose Kunnappillil; district medical officer Junaid Rahman; district programme manager (NRHM) K.V. Beena; General Hospital superintendent P.G. Anne; and V. P. Kuriype, president, Rotary Club of Cochin Global; were among those who participated in the function.
