Dialysis centres in Telangana up 102, says Harish Rao

The Telangana government has, in the past few years, increased the number of dialysis facilities from three to 102, Health Minister, T Harish Rao said.

Hyderabad: To make expensive dialysis facilities accessible for free of cost to needy patients with Chronic Kidney Diseases (CKD), the Telangana government has, in the past few years, increased the number of dialysis facilities from three to 102, Health Minister, T Harish Rao said.

Long term kidney care needs a lot of financial resources and quite often CKD patients struggle to afford and give-up on treatment. Realising such difficulties, Chief Minister, K Chandrashekhar Rao had decided to establish free dialysis facilities in all assembly constituencies, Harish Rao, while inaugurating a 5-bedded dialysis centre and a blood bank at Nampally Area Hospital on Thursday, said.

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As a result of consistent support, at present nearly 10,000 CKD patients in Telangana are availing free dialysis facilities in 102 centres. Moreover, kidney dialysis machines that are being employed are single-user dialyzers, which go a long way in reducing infection rates among CKD patients.

Since every CKD patient who is on dialysis will eventually end-up needing a kidney transplant, the State government is also providing financial support to such patients through Aarogyasri. At present, for a kidney transplant, Rs 10 lakh is provided through Aarogyasri in addition to supply of drugs that are needed life long after transplantation.

“At private hospitals, kidney transplantation will cost upwards of Rs 20 lakh but the same is available for Rs. 10 lakh at NIMS. The State government incurs an annual expenditure of nearly Rs 200 crore towards supporting kidney patients out of which Rs 100 crore is being spent towards dialysis alone,” he said.

While interacting with patients at the Area Hospital, Harish Rao said that in the last few years the number of blood banks in Telangana have also increased from 28 to 56 government blood banks. “We are upgrading TIMS Gachibowli to 1000-bed facility and very soon will add another 2000 superspecialty beds at NIMS,” he said.