Dialyses too expensive

BANDUNG: Only about 2,900 of approximately 20,000 people suffering from kidney failure in West Java can afford dialysis according to data available at RA Habibie Hospital for kidney diseases.

"Most kidney failure patients are people from a low income bracket," said Sri Sudarsono, chairperson of the foundation that manages the hospital, on Monday.

The vice director of the specialist kidney hospital, Avianti, said that, unluckily, the number of kidney failure patients had annually increased by two (persons) per one million.

So the number of people suffering from kidney disease in West Java, which has a population of about 36 million today, has increased by an average of 72 per annum, according to the physician.

Kidney failure is a disease that causes the organ to drop its functions to a level of less than 10 percent its normal rate so dialysis or a kidney transplant is needed to aide patients.

Avianti disclosed that over 60 percent of 265 kidney patients from poor backgrounds who received dialysis free of charge at RA Habibie Hospital last year did not return to the hospital because they couldn't afford to pay the transport costs.

"We hope that the West Java administration will soon help poor patients suffering from kidney failure in the province by providing the cost of treatment," said Avianti, vice director of the kidney hospital that was named after the mother of former president B.J. Habibie. (25/sdt)