The TANKER Foundation inaugurated three dialysis machines at its Thiruverkadu, Ambattur and Nungambakkam units this week.
According to a press release, the machines were donated by Essvee Foundation and RANE Group. Speaking on the occasion, Georgi Abraham, founder-trustee of TANKER Foundation, said as kidney diseases were on the rise, donations like these were deeply appreciated.
Latha Kumaraswami, managing trustee, TANKER Foundation and president-elect of the International Federation of Kidney Foundations-World Kidney Alliance, spoke about TANKER and World Kidney Day that was observed on March 11.
Around 2.5 lakh persons die of kidney failure in India every year. In Tamil Nadu, around 14,440 persons suffer from kidney failure every year and only 10% have access to treatment. From June 1993 to February 2021, TANKER provided 3,92,099 free and subsidised dialyses to 1,849 patients. It has 11 subsidised dialysis units with a total of 157 stations.
S.P. Singaram and S. Vasugi of Essvee Foundation and L. Ganesh, chairman, Rane Group, were present.
Meanwhile, Rela Hospital launched the “South Chennai Dialysis Support Group” on Thursday. It aims to connect and support people undergoing dialysis and create awareness among the public of dialysis, continuous renal replacement therapy and other treatments. It will conduct regular meetings and campaigns that would be taken up across hospitals in the future. It will also have a steering committee of doctors, including nephrologist and urologists.
Mohammed Rela, chairman and MD of the hospital, said they want to put interventions in place to reach people before they showed up in the emergency room with kidney failure, said a press release.
World Kidney Day was observed at the Government Stanley Medical College Hospital. Kidney donors and their families shared their experiences on the occasion.
S. Ashokan, father of Hithendran, shared his experience when consenting to donate his son’s organs after he was declared brain dead.
G. Subbulakshmi, Deputy Commissioner of the Police, Washermenpet, lauded the sacrifices made by donor families during difficult circumstances. L. Raghavan, Deputy Director of Medical Education, said 1,236 live transplants and 2,511 cadaver transplants were covered under the Chief Minister’s Comprehensive Health Insurance Scheme. P. Balaji, dean of the hospital, M. Edwin Fernando, head of nephrology, and J.V.S. Prakash, professor and head of urology, spoke on the occasion.
