Mahabubnagar: Dialysis machines crunch ails government hospitals in district

Mahabubnagar: Lack of Nephrologists and a few dialysis machines across various district government hospitals in the Palamuru region has hit the kidney patients hard, as majority of the patients visiting the district hospitals for dialysis are returning back citing no proper facilities.

Going into the details, the General Hospital in Mahabubnagar is having only 6 dialysis machines and on daily basis about 24 people get dialysis service at the rate of 4 persons on each machine at a time. At present 50 patients are being provided free dialysis. However, the medical staff managing the dialysis centre, allege that they are not able to accommodate the new patients who are visiting the hospital for dialysis.

"With limited dialysis machines we are able to provide dialysis services only for 24 persons per day. But the demand for dialysis from Narayanpet and other surrounding areas is increasing. As we are not able to accommodate the new ones, we are forced to refer them to either to Hyderabad or other district hospitals for dialysis," informed Dr Ramesh, Superintendent of Government General Hospital, Mahbubnagar.

Not just the dialysis machines, the Mahbubnagar district general hospital also lack regular nephrologists to diagnose and treat the kidney patients. With this the kidney patients who are visiting the hospital are being turned back.

If the situation in Mahbubnagar is so, the situation in other district hospitals in Nagarkurnool, Wanaparthy, Gadwal are not different. Except in Narayanpet, all these mentioned districts are having dialysis centres. In Nagarkurnool there are 5 dialysis equipment and about 45 kidney patients are being treated; in Gadwal district, there are 10 dialysis units and more than 102 patients are treated for dialysis. In Wanaparthy district also there are 10 dialysis equipment and more than 80 patients are treated in the district.

With more patients visiting the district hospitals the demand for dialysis centers has increased. In Mahbubnagar, the authorities have already written to the government to provide additional 4 new dialysis machines, similarly in Nagarkurnool 4 are needed. In Gadwal, in addition to existing 10 dialysis units, the district health authorities are demanding the government to add 5 more dialysis machines.

Except for Wanaparthy district, all the other district health departments are demanding more dialysis units to meet the growing demand from the public. In Narayanpet district hospital, there is no dialysis machine. The patients from Narayanpet are either forced to go to the Mahabubnagar or to Gadwal district hospital for their treatment. As these district hospitals are already flooded with kidney patients, the health authorities are referring the patients to Hyderabad or Kurnool district for the treatment.