The ministry said that additional Rs 70 million is needed for the ongoing fiscal year to continue the service. The MoHP has committed hospitals and nursing homes to compensate the amount of the dialysis service they provide free of cost to patients. [break]
"We have reassured hospitals to compensate and have asked them to continue the service," Dr Pravin Mishra, secretary at MoHP, said. He said that the ministry has already demanded additional amount and will compensate the hospitals and nursing homes after it gets the money from the MoF.
The National Kidney Center (NKC) that has been providing dialysis to hundreds of renal patients said that it has demanded additional Rs 20 million for the ongoing fiscal year. The center has submitted the details of patients who have been receiving free dialysis service from the center.
"About 300 renal patients have been receiving free service from our center," said Bimal Baral, an employee at the center. Renal patients infected with HIV/AIDS and elderly people over 70 have been receiving free service from the center for years. Baral said that the center has already provided free service worth Rs four million provided by MoHP. The MoHP has provided the amount in advance to the center to start the service.
Over 70 percent regular patients at the center have been receiving service free of cost. The center said that those who can afford the service are also receiving free service.
"Some argue that though they can sustain their living cost, they cannot afford regular dialysis service," said Dr Hrishi Kafley, executive director at center. He said that the poor people having renal failure have been getting huge relief from the free service. Due to poverty, some kidney patients tolerated pain as long as they could before they arrived for dialysis once a week or once in ten days.
"Those patients, who have been tolerating pain due to poverty and have been begging on the street for dialysis are relieved," added Dr Kafley.
The MoHP has started providing free dialysis service to all since the last two months. The ministry provides Rs 2,500 to the centers for each dialysis session under the free service schemes. Renal patients can receive service twice a week from nearby centers.
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.
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