The Indian Express      20.11.2013

BMC to add 162 beds for dialysis at civic hospitals

The city's civic hospitals will have an additional number of 162 beds for patients undergoing dialysis by the end of this financial year.

Dialysis is the process of removing waste products and excess fluid from the body when the kidneys fail to function properly. With the need of dialysis increasing among patients in the city, BMC carried out gap analysis surveillance in 2010. "It was found out from gap analysis that 250 beds are required in public hospitals for dialysis. However, there are only 59 beds across all civic centres," said additional municipal commissioner Manisha Mhaiskar.

The current capacity of 59 beds will increase to 66 with the commissioning of dialysis centre in Kandivali's Shatabdi hospital on November 26. The remaining beds will be commissioned in the next four months. A total of 1,000 sq ft has been allocated to each dialysis centre on public-private partnership (PPP), which can easily house 10 beds.

According to the health department, while 20,000 cases of dialysis were recorded in civic hospitals in 2012, 25,000 cases have been recorded this year so far. "We expect there will be 30,000 cases of dialysis by this year's end," Mhaiskar said.

Recently, 15 beds were added to Jogeshwari's Trauma hospital and another 15 will be added to R N Cooper Hospital in Vile Parle soon. While private hospitals charge Rs 1,500-2,000 per session of dialysis, the cost drops to Rs 250-450 in civic hospitals. "A person who is not not from a financially stable background cannot afford private hospitals if he requires two to three sittings a week. So the PPP model will ensure that the centres charge minimum cost," Mhaiskar added.