BENGALURU: Karnataka Health Minister Dinesh Gundu Rao is working towards improving the condition of state-run dialysis centres, and has directed officials to call for a fresh tender. He said the current state of the centres is not up to the mark, and the cost of each dialysis procedure is also high. “I reviewed the current tender with officials and observed that prices are high. Hence, a fresh tender will be rolled out under which the cost can come down with improved quality. Shortage of nephrologists in these centres will also be addressed,” he said.
Agreeing that the condition of dialysis centres was poor, Nephrology department director Dr Keshav Murthy said discrepancies have continued for months now. With the equipment in many centres being dysfunctional, there is also a shortage of nephrologists.
The minister convened an internal meeting with department officials on Wednesday, including Health Commissioner D Randeep, Principal Secretary Anil Kumar TK and Dr Murthy.
Under the Pradhan Mantri National Dialysis Programme, there are 167 centres running in Karnataka. According to reports, 145 centres were running without the supervision of a nephrologist. In all, there are 633 functional dialysis machines available, as per the portal.
Doctors said the public-private partnership model being followed for smooth functioning of these centres did not give good results. Often, vendors did not upload daily statistics on the portal, and would not hire employees either for ensuring seamless work.
Commissioner Randeep explained that the lack of vigilance on these centres caused deterioration in the quality of services. Once the new tender is in place, officials will ensure that vendors upload details for every dialysis performed on the PMNDP portal, and they will be paid only on that basis. The minister noted that at Rs 1,120, the current cost of dialysis is high and should be reduced with the new tender.