CHENNAI : In a move to aid the underprivileged suffering from kidney-related ailments in Retteri, Kolathur and other areas in the vicinity, a free dialysis centre was launched by Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC), Tamil Nadu Kidney Research Foundation (TANKER) and Rotary Club of Chennai Towers at Retteri. The architect in-charge, S Ekshikaa told CE that before the dialysis project had started in Retteri about 10 months ago, the urban health centre wore a dilapidated look with no proper illumination, hygiene or equipment.
When the officials from Rotary Club asked around, most of the patients said that they would ‘simply’ skip the dialysis process because they either had to travel all the way to the government hospital at Egmore for treatment at a lower fee or go to a private hospital and pay large amounts of money.“The urban health centre is now equipped with 10 fully automatic dialysis machines, an RO plant as water purity for dialysis is of crucial importance for patient health and outcome, false ceiling to maintain temperature inside the hospital and a lift. So far, this is the only free government dialysis unit equipped with as many facilities,” said Dr. Thiagarajan Thandavan from the TANKER Foundation.
Nearly Rs100 lakh has been received through donation for the purpose and this is the seventh unit of the TANKER Foundation. Six subsidised dialysis units have a total of 76 Dialysis Stations situated in Chennai, Madurai, Coimbatore and Vellore. Deputy Commissioner Health, GCC, P Madhusudhan Reddy assured that this centre would be enrolled under the Chief Ministers Comprehensive Health Insurance Scheme, so that the patients can avail insurance. “Three subsidised dialysis units under GCC will come up at Thiruvotriyur, Perungudi and Valasaravakkam in six months and with the completion of this, the total number of dialysis machines within GCC will go up to 50. The number will be further expanded depending on the demand.”