AS the number of kidney failure cases in the country rises, Manila Mayor Joseph “Erap” Estrada on Tuesday provided another P38 million to fund the expansion of the dialysis center at the city-run Gat Andres Bonifacio Memorial Medical Center in Tondo.
Estrada said he hopes to provide free and quality dialysis treatment to more Manileños suffering from kidney illnesses such as end-stage renal disease but do not have the financial means to avail themselves of the much needed procedure.
“Kidney dialysis is so expensive, and I worry a lot about the poor patients who do not even have enough money to eat, much more get such costly treatment. I have ordered the expansion of the dialysis center at [the medical center],” Estrada said.
The key part of the expansion project is the acquisition of more dialysis machines to accommodate more patients, Estrada added.
Medical Center Director Dr. Luisa Aquino said the city government would buy 28 more dialysis machines valued at P1 million each.
The district hospital, one of the six city hospitals renovated by the Estrada administration, presently has 26 functioning dialysis machines.
“In a few more months we will [already have] 54 dialysis machines. It is a priority project of Mayor Estrada,” Aquino said.
The acquisition of more dialysis machines, she said, will save more lives, as many kidney patients have not been able to get such treatment because of the high cost.
“In private hospitals, and in even in NKTI [National Kidney and Transplant Institute], I think it is P4,000 to P4,500 per session; small private hospitals charge around P2,000, so it is indeed very expensive,” Aquino pointed out.
At GABMMC, the procedure is given free to city residents as the expenses are shouldered by the city government, the hospital director added.
“All the patients with kidney problems in Manila need a dialysis center because it is something they would be needing for a lifetime, about two to three sessions a week,” Aquino said.
According to the Department of Health, there are 130 per million-population suffering from kidney failure each year or about 120,000 cases, or about 10- to 15 percent increase per year.
Upon assumption to office in 2013, Estrada put up the dialysis center at GABMMC. Last April, he also put up a state-of-the-art Eye Care Center at the same hospital for vision-impaired patients.
GABMMC also received a new P36-million, 16-slice Somatom CT scan machine from the city government early this week.
After salvaging the city from the P5 billion debt left by the previous administration, Estrada, who always has a heart for the poor, set aside P500 million for the rehabilitation and modernization of the city’s six public hospitals and 59 community health centers that now benefit the poor families in Manila.