Dialysis treatment now available at Mandeville Regional Hospital

Angelo Lawrence, Gleaner Writer

MANDEVILLE, Manchester:

PATIENTS IN Manchester and its environs who are in need of dialysis treatment can now access care at the Mandeville Regional hospital, as a new multi-million dollar facility was opened last Wednesday.

The new facility, which is equipped with four machines, comes after years of pleading with health officials to establish a dialysis unit at the hospital to alleviate the difficulties persons needing treatment were encountering.

Dialysis treatment is a method by which machines are used to remove impurities from the blood when patients' kidneys, which normally perform this function, fail.

Patients in need of treatment were forced to travel to Kingston Public Hospital or seek treatment at private facilities.

Cutting the ribbon

Before cutting the ribbon to open the facility, Health Minister Rudyard Spencer said the facility represents the position of the government, which is to increase access to services in the public-health sector, especially to those who are deemed most vulnerable in the society.

Spencer pointed out that a survey conducted in 2008 revealed that there were approximately 150,000 persons afflicted with diabetes, which is the leading cause of kidney failure in Jamaica. He said in 2007 the health sector encountered approximately 600 new cases for every one million persons in Jamaica, resulting in the need of the capacity to service at least 500 patients per day.

Spencer said in order to adequately serve these persons, the ministry would need to have more than 200 dialysis machines operating, noting that there were only 100 in the island. Of this number, he said, 50 per cent were in the private sector.

Admitting that the four new units will not be enough to meet the demand for dialysis treatment, Spencer said efforts were underway to increase the number of machines, in an effort to prevent patients from travelling long distances to receive treatment.

Chief executive officer of the CHASE Fund, Billy Heaven, said his agency contributed $24 million toward the new facility. It was also disclosed that Vanderbilt University in the United States contributed significantly to the purchase of the four machines.