NE HEALTH BUREAU
AHMEDABAD, MAR 10
Minister for Tamil Official Language and Tamil Culture and Archaeology of Tamil Nadu K. Pandiarajan had admired and appreciated the dedicated work of the Institute of Kidney Diseases & Research Centre (IKDRC) and its flagship Gujarat Dialysis Programme (GDP) in Tamil Nadu, a senior official of the IKDRC said.
Pandiarajan said this while honouring Dr Vineet Mishra at an awards function held in Chennai recently.
Days ahead of observance of World Kidney Day on March 11, the Director of Ahmedabad-based IKDRC implementing a government-funded programme on Tuesday said it has performed over 12 lakh dialysis sessions since 2010 across 47 centres in Gujarat. And wished that it should be replicated all over the country so as to give better medical care for all and the needy.
Director of IKDRC Dr Vineet Mishra said the Gujarat Dialysis Programme is the largest of its kind in the country, with funding from the Centre’s Pradhan Mantri National Dialysis Programme, a part of the National Health Mission (NHM), as well as the state government.
“More than 12,22,870 dialysis sessions have been performed so far across 47 centres set up under the GDP with 469 machines. Ten more centres will become operational from April this year,” said Dr Vineet Mishra.
“We want to make dialysis available closer to every patient’s home and aiming to bring it down further to 30 kilometers from present range of 50 kilometers radius by doubling the numbers of GDP centres. The cost of setting up a GDP centre with five machines is Rs 56 lakh,” Dr Vineet Mishra, Director, IKDRC-ITS told a gathering of media persons at a press interaction held on Tuesday to mark the momentous occasion.
“It is heartening for IKDRC to be in service of nearly 5000 covid-19 infected renal patients during the months of lockdown last year when even routine medical check-ups came to a grinding halt,” added Dr Mishra emphasizing upon importance of GDP centres for dialysis beneficiaries across the state despite odds during lockdown.
Enjoying the numero uno position through its network of 47 GDP centres in 32 districts of Gujarat, GDP is the largest governmental network of dialysis centres in the country. Powered by IKDRC, GDP centres equipped with 469 machines perform approximately 22,500 dialysis a month. IKDRC, popularly known as Kidney Hospital, achieved this landmark owing to its popularity among masses for high-quality dialysis standards.
Owing to resounding success of GDP, plans are afoot to start 10 more centres at Mansa, Kalol, Kutch-Mandvi, Kutch-Gandhidhan, Wankaner, Jamjodhpur, Surat-Mandvi, Vapi, Gotri-Vadodara and Anand in next two months, Dr Mishra said.
GDP has maintained its position to be on the forefront in transforming lives of thousands of patients in need of kidney care in Gujarat for last eight years. With a staff strength of 350 technicians including ancillary staff trained by IKDRC, GDP perform high-quality dialysis without cost to visiting patients irrespective of their socio-economic background.
“All dialysis sessions are centrally monitored and data reports are generated every month for evaluation at three different levels to ensure better treatment outcomes for every patient,” stated Dr Mishra while elaborating about robust data monitoring system in place under GDP.
The theme of this year’s World Kidney Day is ”living well with kidney disease”, he said.
The concept of the single-use dialyzer and blood tubing for every dialysis procedure has positioned Gujarat as the first state in the country to follow international standards to offer high-quality dialysis. To and fro transport charges for every visit to GDP centres by BPL patients are also refunded with Rs 300. Also, every dialysis performed at GDP centres across the state are monitored through CCTV cameras and a central server installed at IKDRC in Ahmedabad.
Officials said future initiatives include a home dialysis mechanism where machines would be provided at home, as well as a move to bring the availability of a centre from the present 50-kilometre radius from a patient”s home to 30 kilometres.
Recognition for service
The Renny Abraham TANKER Foundation Love for Service Award for a medical doctor who has gone beyond the call of duty in serving the underprivileged was awarded to Dr. Mishra Vineet Vashistha, Director, Smt. G.R. Doshi & Smt. K.M. Mehta Institute of Kidney Diseases & Research Centre – Dr. H.L. Trivedi Institute of Transplantation Sciences, Gujarat. The award carries a prize of ₹. 100,000, a citation and a gold medallion.
