Social activist and the former Secretary of Kalyana Karnataka Chamber of Commerce and Industry Sharanabasappa M. Pappa has urged Medical Education Minister Sharan Prakash Patil to address prevailing inadequacies in the dialysis unit of Gulbarga Institute of Medical Sciences (GIMS) in Kalaburagi.
In a letter written to the Minister on Monday, Mr. Pappa complained that the dialysis facility being provided by Sanjeevini, a Kolkata-based agency on contract, is neither patient-friendly nor satisfactory.
“At present, 84 renal-failure patients are registered for dialysis treatment at the dialysis centre at GIMS. However, the dialysis treatment being provided by Sanjeevini is a recipe for the mortality of renal-failure patients. The patients are deprived of treatment and are being pushed to medical risk,” Mr. Pappa said, reminding the Minister of earlier complaints and representations to the government and inaction from the latter.
One of the major inadequacies listed by Mr. Pappa is the use of substandard dialyser and Heprin injection which results in substandard quality of treatment to patients.
“As per norms of dialysis treatment, a 4K injection needs to be given on a weekly basis. But the agency is administering this injection once a month. Similarly, a 10K injection needs to be given on a weekly basis. But it is not at all given to patients there. As per norms, dialysis of a renal-failure patient needs to be conducted at least for four hours and above. But it is completed within 2-3 hours at the dialysis centre at GIMS. As per norms, a dialysis patient needs dialysis thrice a week. But the GIMS Centre has restricted it to twice a week,” Mr. Pappa said in the letter.
Mr. Pappa has also raised the issue of improper payment of wages to the staff at the dialysis centre. He said that the technical staff are fed-up with the inordinate delay in the payment of salaries, non-payment of ESI and FP contributions.
“The salaries of the technical staff of the dialysis centre are not paid for months together. The employees have planned to go on an indefinite strike from Tuesday. With the technical staff striking dialysis work, the dialysis centre will come to a standstill and the lives of 84 patients registered at the centre will be at risk without dialysis treatment,” Mr. Pappa said and sought the intervention of the Minister for setting things right.
