South Central Railway’s Central Hospital, Lallaguda, has surpassed the 50,000 mark in performing ‘hemodialysis’ since its introduction four years ago and the unit has been functioning even during the lockdown, undertaking as many as 2,791 procedures.

General Manager Gajanan Mallya complimented the hospital administration and the entire team involved in handling the dialysis facility and during his recent visit to the hospital, shared his belief that the health of each employee is equally important. He highlighted the role being played by the central hospital as the nerve centre for comprehensive medical care for the entire zone.

Hemodialysis is an important component of patient care associated with acute and chronic renal failure as it involves a coordinated approach, requiring expert attention of doctors, technicians and nursing staff. The procedure takes about three to four hours with extensive monitoring of all parameters to keep the patient’s condition stable all through, said senior officers.

Complications during the course of the procedure need to be attended immediately by a multi-disciplinary approach, hence dialysis units are considered as one of the critical care facilities in medical care. It was opened in 2017 summer by then Chairman of Railway Board A.K. Mittal.

It has 15 dialysis machines serving the needs of around 130 serving/retired employees/dependent patients undergoing maintenance dialysis and also emergency cases. In the very first year itself, it took up 7,032 procedures or around 20 each day and now with expanded infrastructure, it is handling up to 50 cases per day. Cost savings per annum on account of the unit is estimated to be about ₹ 3 crore, informed an official spokesman.

Additional chief health director Dr N.V.B.K. Sai holds charge of the dialysis unit, visiting nephrologist Dr. Pavan Kumar handles patient care under the overall administrative head, medical director Dr. C.K. Venkateshwarulu.