Government hospitals set to get exclusive dialysis centres

In good news for kidney patients, all government hospitals will soon have exclusive dialysis centres. The proposed scheme which will be started on the Public Private Partnership-based model is likely to be announced in the Union budget on Monday. With high hopes from the budget, the health ministry is expecting about 15-20 per cent hike this time. Other than that, the budget may unveil a health insurance scheme for the senior citizens.

Considering that dialysis, which is a “continous” and an “expensive” process, the government in their scheme has proposed two options for the states which they can opt on the basis of their requirement. Under the terms and conditions, the hospitals will have to provide rent-free bare space, free water and power supply and a private service provider comes in with the equipment and charges a fixed rate. The second option is that the hospital provides a space and the machine and the service provider charges for the fluid used in the machine. “It was realised that a significant number of BPL patients needed dialysis services and many state-run hospitals had little or no capacity to perform dialysis. This new scheme will be an answer to all the pain people had to go through. The idea is to make it convenient and less expensive for people,” sources in the health ministry disclosed.

The health ministry has proposed that a “fixed” or a “controlled” rate be charged from those availing the services.

“Dialysis is expensive if someone has to pay out of the pocket,” sources added.

According to the India renal foundation, India has very little to offer in terms of infrastructural facilities for renal care. Centres for treatment are few, and are concentrated in the major towns. To take the example of haemodialysis, there are only about 500 dialysis centres in India with about 3,000 dialysis machines. The cost of getting haemodialysis (12 dialysis / month) is around Rs 12-15,000/-per month, whereas for peritoneal dialysis, it is around Rs 18-20,000 / per month.

The dialysis scheme which is proposed for all district hospitals therefore, aims at bringing down the out-of-pocket expenses for people.