Mysuru: To meet the rising demand for dialysis machines, the District Health authorities have submitted a proposal to State Government seeking an additional 40 machines.

There are as many as 173 State-run Hospitals in the district, including PHCs, CHCs, General Hospitals and other Health Centres. At present, dialysis centres are functioning at the Nephrology unit of K.R. Hospital in city and at General Hospitals in Taluk-level. While there are 23 dialysis machines in K.R. Hospital, there are 18 in all General Hospitals of the district put together. However, recently, 16 machines were added, bringing the total number to 34.

Speaking to Star of Mysore, DHO Dr. P.C. Kumaraswamy said that there were 23 dialysis machines in K.R. Hospital attached to MMC&RI and recently 14 were added to this, bringing the total number to 37. He pointed out that K.R. Hospital and other State-run Hospitals are finding it difficult to meet the increasing demand, with patients from neighbouring districts too visiting the Hospital to avail free dialysis.

“Taking note of the increasing demand, the District Health Department, along with MMC&RI attached Hospitals, has submitted a proposal to the State Government seeking 40 more dialysis machines for the district in the forthcoming budget. The proposal is likely to come up before the Cabinet meeting scheduled to take place at M.M. Hills late next week,” he noted.

“Currently, K.R. Hospital, which is popularly known as ‘Doddaspatre’ among the rural masses, provides dialysis service to 65 patients each day, in three shifts. The number of patients with renal diseases is increasing and one dialysis session takes around 4-5 hours. As such there is a need for more machines at existing centres and more facilities where dialysis can be done,” he said.

In Private Hospitals, dialysis costs anywhere between Rs. 2,000 and Rs.4,000 per session, excluding travel and other costs,  which cannot be afforded by poor patients. As such, many patients depend on State-run Hospitals to avail free dialysis.

K.R. Hospital, the biggest State-run Hospital in Mysuru district, alone conducts 1,750 sessions every month.