Health Minister T Harish Rao said the Telangana government has increased the number of dialysis facilities from three to 102 over the past few years.
Posted on – Thu 20 Apr 23 at 06:25pm
Hyderabad: To allow needy chronic kidney disease (CKD) patients free access to costly dialysis facilities, the Telangana government has increased the number of dialysis facilities from three to 102 over the past few years, said Health Minister T Harish Rao.
Long-term renal care requires substantial financial resources, and CKD patients are often unaffordable and forego treatment. Aware of these difficulties, Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao decided to set up free dialysis facilities in all constituencies. Harish Rao opened a 5-bed dialysis center and a blood bank at Nampally Area Hospital on Thursday.
As a result of ongoing support, nearly 10,000 CKD patients in Telangana are currently using free dialysis facilities at 102 centres. In addition, the kidney dialysis machines being used are single-user dialyzers, which can go a long way in reducing infection rates in CKD patients.
Since every CKD patient who undergoes dialysis will eventually need a kidney transplant, the state government also provides financial support to these patients through Aarogyasri. Currently, Aarogyasri is funding Rs 10 lakh for kidney transplants, in addition to providing life-long post-transplant medications.
“In private hospitals, a kidney transplant will cost more than Rs. 20 lakh, but the same applies to Rs. 1 million in NIMS. The state government spends almost Rs. 200 crore a year to support kidney patients, of which Rs. 100 crore is spent on dialysis alone,” He said.
Interacting with patients at district hospitals, Harish Rao said that the number of blood banks in Telangana has also increased from 28 to 56 government blood banks in the past few years. “We are upgrading TIMS Gachibowli to a 1000-bed facility and will soon add another 2000 super-specialized beds at NIMS,” he said.
