Bhubaneswar, January 31, 2018: Kidney disease is on the rise worldwide, and in India, the burden of Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) and End Stage Renal Disease (ESRD) is increasing rapidly. Unfortunately, increasing costs means widening of the gap in bringing accessible healthcare to the less privileged. With an aim to provide free dialysis treatments across the State, Fairfax India Charitable Foundation joins hands with the Government of Odisha offering 127 dialysis machines, free to use dialysis services to patients in parts of the State where there are no facilities, or if present, the condition of such thereof, is in a poor state.
As per information from various stakeholders, Odisha alone contributes to almost 3.5 percent of the ESRD patients in India which comes to about 32,929 ESRD patients. It is estimated this population will cross the figure of 70,000 patients by the end of 2020. Current total dialysis delivery capacity is capable to provide regular dialysis to only 2300 ESRD patients leaving more than 90 percent ESRD population remaining underserved or unserved.
Speaking on their association with this noble cause, Mr. Abraham Alapatt, CEO, Fairfax India Charitable Foundation said, “This is a part of the larger Fairfax India Group level commitment to raise the resources between our companies, friends and well-wishers to support a self-sustaining low cost dialysis programme in parts of India where patients today have limited or no access to this lifesaving service. The MoU we are signing today with the National Health Mission of Odisha will enable access to quality dialysis services, free of cost, by delivering more than 110,000 dialysis sessions per year.”
He further added, “Our target is to deploy 1000 machines with carefully chosen 150 centres. This will be capable of collectively offering 900,000 dialysis sessions per year at costs that are about 40 percent lower than current market rates. Our mission is to serve the poorest Indians who need dialysis the most. This partnership will include over 465 machines deployed across government district hospitals in 10 States via a unique PPP model – in partnership with the Ministry of Health and carefully chosen private service providers in each State.”