Patients suffer as Hyderabad, RR district lack dialysis centres

Rangareddy: Although the two fastest growing districts Hyderabad and Rangareddy are witnessing an alarming increase in the number of patients suffering from kidney-related health complications, no sufficient number of dialysis centres is forcing the people to suffer while their families have to bear expensive treatment at corporate hospitals that take a toll on their health and wealth identically.

While Hyderabad has merely seven dialysis centres, Rangareddy with over 34 lakh population has only four such facilities.

In Hyderabad, government-run hospitals like District Hospital King Kothi, Area Hospital Nampally, Area Hospital Golconda, Area Hospital Malakpet, NIMS Hospitals, Osmania General Hospital and Gandhi Hospitals have dialysis centres. The poor patients mainly from the Old City area generally approach hospitals like Area Hospital Malakpet, Mahavir Extension Centre Malakpet, Area Hospital Nampally, Area Hospital Golconda and Asra Hospital for treatment.

Hyderabad district alone has a number of 2400 registered patients getting treatment in government hospitals, according to official statistics. However, it is said that the actual number of patients approaching private hospitals for dialysis twice or thrice in a week is significantly higher than the official count.

The officials say that the measures being taken by the government to address the issue of patients suffering from kidney diseases are way better than any other State.

“The government is providing dialysis treatment free of cost in designated State-run hospitals in the district. Apart from this, the cadaver transplantation procedures too are covered under the Arogyasri scheme that brought cheers on the faces of scores of distressed families,” informed Mahaboob Pasha, District Manager Aarogyasri Health Care Trust.

“There are 2400 patients getting treatment at State-run dialysis centres under the Aarogyasri scheme for free of cost in the district. The government is also providing a pension of Rs 2,000 and free bus passes to the patients.”

He also said, “The government is providing single-use dialysers to 82 centres in the district to ensure the safety of the patients going for dialysis every alternate day. “It goes without saying that 1685 procedures were already done free of cost under the Arogyasri scheme. After merging the Ayushman Bharat scheme with the State run Arogyasri, the number of patients getting treatment in Hyderabad district has increased”.

Rangareddy has only four such facilities in Vanasthalipuram, Shadnagar, Chevella, and Maheshwaram. “One similar facility was recently established at Ibrahimpatnam mandal but was not in functional mode due to some electrical issues. The facility will be put to play in the next two weeks after fixing the issue,” informed, G Raju Yadav, District Coordinator of Hospital Services (DCHS) Rangareddy.

Patients suffering from renal failure would survive on dialysis with intervals that vary from once, twice or thrice in a week or month. The temporary treatment is essential for the patient to survive until they get a normal life through transplantation which is considered another uphill task for the families as securing a donor outside the family would make them wait for an indefinite period of time after registering themselves under the Jeevan Daan scheme.

“We were made to choose a private hospital at Banjara Hills for the treatment of our 17 year old nephew who was diagnosed with renal failure recently as we have no such facility near our house in Bahadurpura,” said ArfahRahmen, who visits the city corporate hospital to get dialysis treatment for her nephew twice a week.

Despite securing a slot at the hospital, she said, “We were asked to wait for several hours as the beds were unavailable. We have to go through this trauma twice a week despite spending over Rs 3,500 per session in a corporate hospital as we have no such facility available anywhere near our area in Rajendranagar under Rangareddy district”.