Stanley medical college paves way for dialysis at home

Continuous Ambulatory Peritoneal Dialysis will be offered by the hospital under the Chief Minister’s insurance scheme

A 22-year-old girl from Polur, Tiruvannamalai, had to discontinue her studies in order to undergoing haemodialysis when her kidneys failed.

But with Government Stanley Medical College Hospital launching Continuous Ambulatory Peritoneal Dialysis (CAPD), patients like her can undergo dialysis in the comfort of their homes while carrying on with their daily routine.

Haemodialysis requires frequent visits to hospitals, between two and three times a week if not more. This poses difficulties for patients, especially those from rural areas and those who travel for work, as it affects their routine. With CAPD, patients need not visit hospitals frequently, other than for regular check-ups, M. Edwin Fernando, head of nephrology at the hospital, said.

At Stanley Hospital, CAPD will be offered under the Chief Minister’s Comprehensive Health Insurance Scheme (CMCHIS). “CAPD costs around Rs. 15,000 to Rs. 20,000 a month until patients get a kidney transplant. But this will be covered under CMCHIS here,” he added.

For this, the government has entered into a memorandum of understanding with a healthcare company. The company will send clinical coordinators to the homes of patients.

“CAPD is a boon for patients in whom all vascular access has failed and those with severe heart disease. In this technique, we place a small catheter in the abdominal cavity of patients. They are given bags with dialysis fluid required for a week. They need to connect the bag to the catheter in order to fill the cavity with the fluid, which takes about 20 minutes,” Dr. Fernando explained.

Once that is done, patients can carry out their routine activities, whether at home, office or anywhere else outside. Dr. Fernando said dialysis would take six hours, at the end of which patients need to let out the fluid. This process has to be done three times a day.

With hygiene a key factor in CAPD, doctors said patients will be trained in maintaining hygiene by washing hands and taking aseptic precautions while changing dialysis bags.

New machines

Hospital dean A.L. Meenakshi Sundaram said the nephrology department would soon get a dedicated dialysis machine for patients with infections such as Hepatitis B and C. “We are also getting separate units for patients in the Intensive Care Unit and post-surgical ICU. This will help avoid shifting patients from one place to another for dialysis,” he said.