The center, which is the largest dialysis service provider in the country, said that a lot of patients have already brought recommendation letters from their respective district Public Health Offices to get the free service. [break]"Those who do not have letters have been asking their relatives in the district to get the recommendation," Bimal Baral, an administrative officer at the center said.
Patients from private, government and regional hospitals have been thronging the center following the news of the free service.
"Our dialysis service matches the international standards, so most patients want to get the service here," he added.
The center began providing the service after the Ministry of Health and Population (MoHP) promised to reimburse the cost of dialysis.
The center said that the MoHP has provided Rs four million in advance to start the service. "We have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the ministry to provide the service free of cost," said Hrishi Kumar Kafley, the center´s executive director.
The ministry has asked all dialysis centers to provide the service free of cost to the poor saying it would reimburse the money later. The ministry has pledged to pay back Rs 2,500 to the centers for each free dialysis session.
Dr Kafley said patients, who have been undergoing dialysis once in a week or 10 days will do so more frequently now.
In lack of money, poor patients awaited as long as they could to undergo a dialysis. "They came to get dialysis only when the pain became intolerable," he said.
Meanwhile, Human Organ Transplant Center, known as Kidney Hospital, Bhaktapur has also declared that it was providing free dialysis service from Thursday.
It is estimated that each year about 3,000 people suffer from Kidney failure. Doctors said that about 300,000 people in Nepal have some kind of kidney disease.
Patients whose both kidneys have failed must have a dialysis at least twice a week. Some private centers have been charging over Rs 5,000 per dialysis.
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