Dialysis centre set to start getting kidney patients, doctor says

By LULU MARK
THE first dialysis centre outside Port Moresby which will be in Mendi Hospital is set to start getting kidney patients early next year, a doctor says.
During the handover of the dialysis machine and associated equipment by the Papua New Guinea Kidney Foundation to the Southern Highlands health authority on Monday, chief executive officer Dr Joseph Birisi said this was the fruition of a memorandum of understanding to establish the dialysis centre signed last year.
Dr Birisi said through funding from Kumul Petroleum Holdings Ltd and support of the Kidney Foundation, the dialysis centre was built to standard and specifications and would be completed in two weeks.
“It is a new field we are exploring and there will be a lot of challenges which we will continue to improve and build our capacity,” he said.
Dr Birisi said they had sent a doctor and three nurses for almost six months of dialysis care training at the foundation’s dialysis centre at Kennedy Estate.
“As the equipment is shipped to Lae and moved to Mendi, our staff will join us to kick-start the programme,” he said.
Dr Birisi said the dialysis centre could treat six patients at a time and was also located next to the intensive care unit where there would be another dialysis machine so both the acute and chronic renal failure patients could be treated there.
He said this was all about partnerships and he thanked Kidney Foundation chairman Sir Martin Poh and partners for their confidence in Mendi Hospital to be the first hospital outside Port Moresby to deliver dialysis care and services. Sir Martin said kidney failure was not a death sentence, hence, it was important that many people had access to dialysis services.
He said many people with kidney issues from the Highlands travelled to Port Moresby to get help and having a dialysis centre in that region would allow patients to get treatment closer to home reducing costs and making it more convenient.