Dialysis unit at Wenlock Hospital from today

Mangalore Today News Network

Mangaluru, Aug 12, 2015:   The district surgeon Dr Rajeshwari Devi, told media on Aug 11 that  renovated dialysis unit at Wenlock Hospital, with 12 machines, will be inaugurated by the Assembly Speaker Kagodu Thimmappa on  Aug 12,  Wednesday.

She said that the hospital was earlier provided with three machines. Now, the Round Table organisation has given one machine, along with eight additional dialysis machines provided by the Health Department.   The wing had already started functioning three months ago, she said, adding that Karnataka Bank had given Rs 15 lakh to renovate the old wing of the hospital to convert it into a hi-tech dialysis wing.

Stating that haemodialysis is carried out for the patients with acute renal failure, she said that the rise in dengue and rat fever cases had also increased the patients’ need for haemodialysis. 

Peritoneal dialysis kits were given to twenty patients at Wenlock Hospital last year on a pilot basis.  Patients with such kits will interact with Minister for Health and Family Welfare U T Khader on the occasion. While a kidney patient has to travel to a hospital to undergo haemodialysis - two to three times a week, depending on the medical requirement - peritoneal dialysis can be conducted at home.

Under the pilot project, the patients were trained to take up dialysis at home and were monitored by a nephrologist and urologists.   The patients included those from not only Dakshina Kannada, but also districts like Davangere, Shivamogga and Belagavi.

As part of the peritoneal dialysis, a filter tube will be surgically fitted in the patients’ abdomen and filled with a fluid required for dialysis.   A total of 429 patients have undergone 2,073 haemodialysis sessions at Wenlock Hospital, from January till July this year. The last three months, with an increase in the machines, 602 sessions have been carried out.

Along with the inauguration of the dialysis wing, a workshop on the role of elected representatives in building a healthy society will be organised at IMA Hall, Third Floor, Mangaluru. Gram panchayat presidents, town panchayat presidents and vice-presidents will attend the programme.