Mangaluru: Forum launches cheap dialysis for BPL patients

MANGALURU: Team B-Human has launched a campaign, called Dialysis Is Life Support, to sponsor the dialysis expenses of poor patients in the district.
Asif Deals, the founder of Team B- Human, said the team has worked closely on health-related issues with different hospitals since the Covid-19 first wave.
“During our visits, we realised that several patients face difficulty in getting dialysis done. The problems are mainly due to poverty and slots not being available in government hospitals. The existing facilities in government hospitals are not sufficient for the growing demand,” he said.
“I have also seen my father-in-law suffer since he had to undergo dialysis. We lost him and we still remember the pain he went through. Hence as a team, we decided to help poor patients who need dialysis,” he said.
“Our team has done a survey and found out that there are at least 4,000 people from BPL families in the district who need dialysis at least once to thrice a week. Private hospitals charge around Rs 1,600 per visit. If a patient has to undergo dialysis three times a week, one can imagine the plight of the family. We have noticed that several poor families on their own tend to reduce the frequency of dialysis because of the financial burden, leading to other health complications,” he said.
“We have tied up Yenepoya Hospital, Deralkatte and Kanachur Hospital, and are in talks with three other private hospitals to conduct dialysis at a concessional rate,” Asif said.
He said only the cost of the dialysis is taken care of by the core team and the patient is given a card from B-Human only after verifying the background. The cost of medicines and injections will have to be borne by the patient. Meanwhile, in case the team comes across cases where patients need other medical assistance, then the team looks into it and sponsors it. Last month, the team sponsored dialysis for 300 patients, Asif said.
B-Human is also planning an awareness drive on kidney transplant. “We have realised that not many within a family are willing to donate a kidney,” Asif said.