’One nation, One Dialysis’ programme
Dr. Mansukh Mandaviya, The Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare said that the Central Government will soon launch the ‘One Nation, One Dialysis’ programme in Chennai. The programme is set to launch by the Union Government under the Pradhan Mantri National Dialysis Programme. This programme will allow patients to get a dialysis facility in any part of India.
Dialysis takes a toll on family expenses
This scheme is designed with the objective to align with the Centre’s plan of one nation, one service under the Pradhan Mantri National Dialysis Programme under the National Health Mission. Nearly 2.2 lakh new patients have End Stage Renal Disease (ESRD) in India every year. Each year this increase in ESRD cases has raised the demand of dialysis services by 3.4 crores.
However, with approximately 4950 dialysis centres existing in reality, the demand is less than half met. These dialysis centres are primarily owned and managed by private bodies and their availability, affordability, and accessibility punches a huge hole in the pockets of the patients and their family members.
’One Nation, One Dialysis’ can serve as a relief
Each dialysis service costs approximately Rs 2000 which results in about Rs 3-4 lakhs yearly expenditure of each patient. Additionally, the frequency of these visits, travelling long distances with the patient to access a dialysis centre incurs heavy expenses and loss of wages for a patient and his or her family members.
The ’One nation, One Dialysis’ can be a relief for ESRD patients and their families who stretch their financial capacity for a substantial gain in the quality of life of these patients. Besides accessibility, these ’One nation, One Dialysis’ centres can also assist in spreading of awareness and early detection of kidney diseases which will eventually help in decreasing the financial burden on patients and their families.
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