PUDUCHERRY: There has been a steep rise in kidney diseases with cases in the outpatient department of JIPMER increasing six fold and hemodialysis sessions having tripled to 4,500 annually in the last four years.
Further, there are 44 active patients on peritoneal dialysis and 32 kidney transplants have been done since March 2012.
Every month, 50 new End Stage Renal Disease (ESRD) and 75 acute kidney infection patients requiring dialysis have been referred to JIPMER from other hospitals in Puducherry and surrounding areas, Dr Sreejith Parameswaran, head of Department of Nephrology told ‘Express’.
In May alone, dialysis was performed on 137 patients in 577 sessions. All over the country, there are 55,000 patients on dialysis and the population requiring dialysis is growing by 15 per cent annually. Only about 10 per cent of ESRD patients in India receive any Renal Replacement Therapy, Dr Sreejith said. The increase in patients with End Stage Renal Disease has also resulted in the wait for kidney transplantation. “There is a long waiting list of 35 to 40 for cadaver and 25 living donor transplants,” Dr Sreejith said. The institute already notified a brain death certification committee in 2012 and formulated standard operating procedures to be followed in the case of brain death, for organ donation.
Meanwhile, four dialysis machines were donated to JIPMER by the Rotary Foundation of Rotary International under ‘Project Jeevan—GG 1419828’.
Chief Minister N Rangasamy dedicated the machines to JIPMER at a function held on its premises. The four machines, costing `19.82 lakh, were jointly sponsored by the Rotary Club of Fort Atkinson, Wisconsin and Rotary Club of Pondicherry, Beach Town.