Govt dialysis support programme: “I feel without this, I would have already been in my box”– recipient

…as over $50M paid out to 84 patients

In keeping with its commitment to provide annual cash disbursements to assist persons with their dialysis treatment, Government on Tuesday distributed cheques to the tune of $600,000 each to 84 haemodialysis patients to help subsidise their expenses this year.
The Administration has allocated $863 million in Budget 2023 to support those in need of this critical medical treatment under its Dialysis Support Programme.
Tuesday’s distribution exercise, which saw the payout of some $50.4 million at the Health Ministry on Brickdam, Georgetown, was the first for this year. Of the 84 beneficiaries, 15 are new patients.
According to Health Minister, Dr Frank Anthony, this initiative is geared at providing financial support to persons suffering from kidney failure who require dialysis, a much-needed treatment for the management of their condition.
Previous statistics indicate that 50 per cent of dialysis patients are admitted to hospitals owing to various treatment constraints. Some persons would require such a procedure three times per week.
“Last year we introduce a programme, where persons who are affected by kidney failure and have end-stage kidney disease receive an annual subsidy of $600,000, and I am very pleased that we will soon be paying out over $50M which will benefit some 84 patients,” Dr Anthony said.
While appealing to the general public to get registered if they require dialysis support, the Minister indicated that more persons were expected to benefit during the year.
“As far as I am aware, the reaction from most of the patients is that this has been quite helpful to most of them, because, with the amount of money we are now giving them, they can now access dialysis treatment in the various regions,” Dr Anthony pointed out.
The Health Minister highlighted that through close collaboration with Private Sector agencies, dialysis services have now been expanded to Regions Two (Pomeroon-Supenaam), Three (Essequibo Islands-West Demerara), Four (Demerara-Mahaica) and 10 (Upper Demerara-Berbice) compared to previous years where patients requiring dialysis were forced to travel to the capital city to seek treatment.
Meanwhile, 27-year-old Christopher Sukha was pleased to have uplifted his cheque from the Ministry’s accounts department earlier Tuesday morning.
“This $600,000 will help me out a lot, because I lost both my parents and I currently live with my aunt who cannot support me, because this is an expensive procedure,” Sukha said.
Another dialysis patient, Neville Porter, 56, credited the kind gesture from the Government of Guyana as the reason he was still alive today.
“This subvention is a major help; I feel without this, I would have already been in my box (casket) already,” he stressed.
For Rajdai Rafikan, a 69-year-old widower, “the money is needed because the cost of taking dialysis is very expensive”. This initiative, she said, will ease the burden on her only daughter, from whom she would usually solicit financial assistance to meet her weekly dialysis needs.
If a person has Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD), the kidneys are unable to filter the blood to remove harmful waste products and excess fluids which are turned into urine to be passed out of the body. Dialysis treatment then becomes an alternative procedure to remove waste products and excess fluids from the blood when the kidneys stop working properly. It is a process that involves diverting blood to a machine to be cleaned.
Last year, some 327 patients benefited from the annual $600,000 payout. This initiative was first announced in Budget 2022. At the time, some $180 million in support for dialysis patients were set aside.
Finance Minister, Dr Ashni Singh had stated that, there were a “…the number of persons currently receiving dialysis treatment, many of whom are young people still in the prime of their lives, but oftentimes struggling to meet the cost of their treatment. To this end, we will introduce a Dialysis Support Programme under which we will finance up to $600,000 per annum worth of dialysis treatment for each and every dialysis patient in Guyana.”
Persons requiring support for dialysis treatment can contact the Ministry’s Medical Treatment Department on 225-0113 for more information on how they can receive financial assistance. (G8)