A NATIONAL Kidney Research and Treatment Centre will soon be established with its first satellite unit to be opened at the Nadi Hospital complex.
Head of Nephrology Department Dr Amrish Krishnan said the unit that would be established in Nadi would also provide dialysis services.
He said the facility in Nadera would have four clinic rooms and the hemodialysis room would have 12 dialysis machines initially, with the ability to expand to 20-plus machines if necessary.
Dr Krishnan said the centre would also provide accessibility for kidney health checks, information about different types of dialysis treatments, and kidney transplantation.
He said they would also have kidney clinics to better diagnose and treat kidney disease while it was still in its early stages.
“As for the Northern Division, the Labasa dialysis unit will be utilised as the second satellite unit. Setting up of other satellite units will depend on the number of patients we have in different areas,” said Dr Krishnan.
He stressed that according to the 2018-2019 budget, patients with household incomes of less than $30,000 per annum, will be able to access haemodialysis at $75 a session whereas those earning above $30,000 will be paying $150 a session.
Dr Krishnan said at present, there were just over 120 patients on dialysis but he added that once the subsidised treatment became active, the number of patients choosing dialysis treatment would increase.
The 2018-2019 budget has an allocation of $5.5 million for the kidney health services, $3.5 million will go towards subsiding dialysis costs while $2 million will be used for capital development.
