Kidney patients suffer as Haripur hospital stops free dialysis

HARIPUR: The sufferings of kidney patients particularly those who were unable to bear the expenses of treatment have multiplied as the District Headquarters Hospital (DHQ) administration has stopped providing free of charge dialysis services to them, sources said on Monday.

The patients have to purchase medicines and kits required for dialysis from the local market.

The sources said though the hospital had millions of rupees at its disposal under the head of Health Management Board, the facility of free of charge dialysis could not be resumed even after five months due to the pathetic attitude of the district administration and provincial Health Department.

The sources said that the dialysis centre of DHQ Hospital Haripur conducted the dialysis of 21 patients daily.

However, according to sources, when the KP Health Department’s memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Abbottabad-based private medical college expired after 10 years on June 30, 2019, the hospital management continued to offer free of charge dialysis facilities.

The private firm stopped the supply of dialysis kits and medicines to the dialysis centre when the provincial government froze funds of the Health Management Board to the tune of Rs40.8 million.

The sources said that following suspension of supply to hospital, the management asked the patients to purchase dialysis kits from the local market.

The poor patients had to pay for Rs4500 for one round of dialysis and there were many who needed dialysis twice a week.

When contacted, Medical Superintendent Dr Waheed Qureshi confirmed that the DHQ was facing shortage of funds and the hospital was unable to provide free of charge dialysis services.

He said the patients had to purchase kits and other medicines required for dialysis.

However, he said that due to his efforts the provincial government has allowed local purchase of injections required during dialysis. “We have decided to provide free of charge injection to each patient from Tuesday which is going to reduce the dialysis expenses of a patient by at least 50 percent,” the MS explained. To a question, Dr Qureshi said that the matter of utilization of HMB’s funds has been taken up with Secretary Health Syed Imtiaz Hussain Shah and the complaints of patients about the dialysis would be addressed within the next few days.