SRIKAKULAM: About 18 patients have been waiting for dialysis for the last few months at Palasa dialysis centre. With no vacant beds at the Palasa centre, several CKD patients have been undergoing dialysis at the nearby dialysis centres in the district while a few others are undergoing dialysis in Visakhapatnam too.
Nearly 80 CKD patients are undergoing dialysis at the Palasa centre at present. A similar situation is being witnessed at Sompeta centre too. Although the dialysis centres were set up at Tekkali, Srikakulam, Sompeta, Palasa, Palakonda and Kaviti, high inflow of patients was witnessed at Palasa and Sompeta centres as they are in the Uddanam region. As many as 428 CKD victims have been undergoing dialysis at various government dialysis centres in the district while about 150 others are undergoing dialysis at private hospitals in Srikakulam and Visakhapatnam.
“We conduct about 30 sessions of dialysis daily except Sunday,” said Palasa dialysis centre manager Madhu. “We have 10 dialysis machines, including two for HCV (Hepatitis C virus) positive people, at the centre,” he added. On the whole, about 80 people have been undergoing dialysis while about 18 chronic kidney diseases (CKD) victims are waiting for their turn.
Although they have been waiting for their turn at the Palasa centre, they are undergoing dialysis at various centres in the district and even in Visakhapatnam, Madhu added. Due to lack of availability of beds at Palasa, they have been undergoing dialysis at various centres, he added. “On first come first priority basis, we will inform the waiting patients to undergo dialysis,” the Palasa centre manager added.
Over 10,000 people were found to have abnormal levels of creatinine in the screening tests conducted in 130 villages in seven mandals of Uddanam almost two years ago, said B Surya Rao, the district coordinator for hospital services (DCHS). He also said taking the severity of the kidney disease into account, dialysis is being conducted for the patients at the fifth stage.
“We have been supplying medicines to more than 10,000 CKD victims. About 428 people have been undergoing dialysis at various centres in the district while another 150 are undergoing dialysis at private hospitals in Srikakulam and Visakhapatnam districts,” the DCHS added.