Charity commissioner plans for dialysis centres in every district

Mumbai: The charity commissioner of the state, Shivkumar Dige has come up with an idea to start a dialysis centre in every district. In these centres, dialysis facility will be provided to the patient for free of cost or at affordable charges for poor patients. In India, around 17.2 per cent of people are suffering from the chronic kidney disease out of which many of them require dialysis for a longer period of time. 5,000-odd temple trusts in Maharashtra would be roped in for the project said Mr Dige.

The commissioner’s office arrangement is to get one dialysis machine in donation to each district government hospital from NGOs, temple and shrines, where the dialysis will be done for free or at a very affordable rate. For larger districts is provisions of two machines will be made.

Mr Dige added, “Kidney-related ailments are on the rise. The patients outnumber the number of dialysis machines at the district hospitals centres. We need more dialysis centres to cater a large number of patients. This prompted the idea of starting dialysis centres in every district, with the help of NGOs, temple and shrines.”

President of Mumbai’s famous Lalbaug-Raja Ganesh Utsav Mandir Trust Sudhir Salvi said, “Since past eight years, we have a dialysis centre. We are providing dialysis treatment to around 96 patients on a daily basis.”

Mr Salvi said, “We welcome the initiative taken by the charity commissioner. This will pro-vide dialysis treatment to thousands of needy patients.”