Health Minister Mohammed Nasim yesterday inaugurated a project to facilitate patients of Bangladesh with dialysis at the lowest possible cost at the dialysis service centre of the National Institute of Kidney Diseases and Urology (Nikdu).
The project is coordinated between the Public Private Partnership (PPP) authority and the Health Ministry, and sponsored by Indian Healthcare Company Sandor Medicaids.
Nasim said the facility would allow the poor to gain access to highly advanced dialysis technologies at minimum cost. He termed the initiative a sign of long-term friendship between India and Bangladesh.
He said Bangladesh government would work to expand the facilities at the district level.
According to Nikdu Director Professor Nurul Huda Lenin, the dialysis services available at private hospitals cost Tk8,000, but at Nikdu it can be done for a mere Tk400 if a patient is deemed unable to bear the expenses. Financially capable families can also use the dialysis facilities for Tk2,190.
Financial capability is to be determined by consulting the patient’s families.
Director General of the PPP Authority Dr Nasir Uddin said the dialysis service project is one of the eight projects to have materialised.
Rajeev Sindhi, managing director of Sandor, said they have 55 such facilities in India and that this was their first investment abroad. Sandor has so far provided 45 dialysis machines – 14 in Nikdu and 31 in CMCH; 45 more are to follow in the second phase of the project.
The facilities at Chittagong are to open by December 10.