Dialyses too expensive

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)