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Guwahati: Assam finance and health minister Himanta Biswa Sarma today announced that the health department will be installing more dialysis machines in the COVID-19 hospital located in the Gauhati Medical College and Hospital (GMCH) for the benefit of the kidney patients who are undergoing treatment for the infectious disease.
"We are installing more Dialysis machines in the GMCH COVID hospital for the benefit of Chronic kidney disease (CKD) patients. Along with treatment for #COVID19, we are also continuing Hemodialysis for CKD patients", the minister wrote in a tweet moments earlier.
Although the minister has not specified exactly how many machines are being installed at the GMCH COVID-19 hospital for the patients, he has shared a few pictures of the spanking new machines that are being used for the treatment of kidney patients.
Hemodialysis uses a machine and a filter to remove waste products and water from the blood of those suffering from kidney problems. The other main type of dialysis - peritoneal dialysis - uses a fluid (dialysate) that is placed into the patient's abdominal cavity to remove waste products and fluid from the body.
The minister's proclamation has come amid the rise in the number of COVID-19 deaths in Assam, where the toll has soared to 88. Many of these casualties have been reported among people who have other underlying conditions which could be a contributing factor to the deaths.
With the hospitals across the state becoming choc-a-bloc with COVID-19 patients, the medical facilities have also been ramped up within these hospitals. Over the past few weeks, there have been numerous instances of doctors in PPE kits facilitating the delivery of babies among COVID-19 positive women.
Himanta Biswa Sarma, who has been at the forefront of Assam's COVID-19 battle from the get-go, has emphasized the need to accord proper medical facilities to the people in the state undergoing treatment for the COVID-19 virus in the state-run hospitals, the GMCH being one of them.