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30% hike in cost of dialysis in 6 months - Hindustan Times |
Sachin Bhutta, 35, has the same routine for the past four years, which includes half-a-day of dialysis thrice a week. A sales and marketing executive, Bhutta has no time, money or energy for any other activity, much like most chronic kidney disorder patients in the city. Dialysis is a procedure one has to go through in case of acute kidney failure to remove waste and unwanted water from the body. In the past six months, the cost of this procedure has gone up by 30% and nearly doubled in the past one year, doctors said. “I spend around Rs14,000 on dialysis every month and another Rs10,000 for injections and medicines. I spend most of my salary on this and am unable to contribute at home,” said Bhutta, who was detected with chronic kidney disorder in 2005 when he was 28 years old and decided against getting married. Until last year, actual cost of dialysis was around Rs500 and around Rs700 until six months ago. But owing to the increase in prices of chemicals used in the procedure, instruments and electricity bills, it now costs Rs1,000 per dialysis session,” said Dr Umesh Khanna, nephrologist and head of Mumbai Kidney Foundation. He said while the civic body provided only 25 dialysis machines, private sector has around 700 machines. The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation has announced 51 more dialysis machines. At present there are around 15,000 patients on dialysis in the city. “We are encouraging public private partnership where we would provide the space and NGOs would run those centres,” said Manisha Mhaiskar, additional commissioner, BMC. At municipal hospitals, one dialysis session costs Rs. 400. “Mumbai has the highest number of dialysis centres run by non-profit organisations in India, which offer dialysis for as little as Rs300 to Rs. 500. They cannot accommodate all the needy patients,” Khanna said. |