Phani Bhushan Choudhury inaugurates free dialysis centre at Bongaigaon Civil Hospital

Our Correspondent

Bongaigaon: Good news for kidney patients of Bongaigaon, Chirang, Kokrajhar, Dhubri and Goalpara. The kidney patients of these five districts from now on will be able to avail the dialysis facility in Bongaigaon free of cost. With the free dialysis centre becoming operational at Bongaigaon Civil Hospital from Sunday, patients now will not have to travel to Guwahati or pay heavily at private hospitals for undergoing dialysis.

The Free Dialysis Centre, started under Pradhan Mantri National Dialysis Programme at the Bongaigaon Civil Hospital, was formally inaugurated by Minister of Food and Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs Phani Bhushan Choudhury in presence of MLA of South Salmara, Ananta Kr Malo, Executive Director of National Health Mission, Assam, Dr Achyut Baishya, Deputy Commissioner of Bongaigaon, Adil Khan, Superintendent of Police Subodh Sonowal, ADC-cum-SDO (civil) of Abhayapuri and North Salmara, Meghnidhi Dahal, ADCs Dhrubajyoti Das and Anupam Deka, and Joint Director of Health Services, Bongaigaon, Dr Ratna Basumatari.

Phani Bhusan Choudhury in his speech urged upon the patients to avail maximum benefit of the programme. He also stressed proper publicity about the programme in Bongaigaon and other districts so that beneficiaries could reap the benefits.

For a new registration, patients can directly walk into the Dialysis Centre. It will remain open on all days of a week except on Sunday from 9:30 am onwards. Each dialysis session usually takes 4-6 hours for completion. The average cost of dialysis session is between Rs 2,000 to Rs 3,000 in addition to the cost of travel and medicines and other consumables. This, therefore, leads to financial catastrophe for practically all families with such patients.

Pradhan Mantri National Dialysis Programme under National Health Mission was announced in the Union Budget 2016-17 with an objective to provide free hemo-dialysis to the patients suffering from kidney-related diseases.

The Hemo-Dialysis Centres under PMNDP will run in 18 locations in Assam in Public-Private partnership mode. Apollo Group, Chennai has been chosen through a detailed selection process by National Health Mission, Assam to implement the dialysis programme in Assam.

Also read: Himanta Biswa Sarma Unveils 2 Free Dialysis Centres At Tezpur Medical College