Harish Rao lauds Mahavir Trust for achieving one million dialysis sessions

HYDERABAD: Minister for health T Harish Rao on Saturday said that the state government would always welcome charitable activities.

He was speaking at an event organised by Bhagwan Mahavir Jain Relief Foundation Trust commemorating its milestone of delivering one million dialysis sessions across their centres in the city. The minister said absence of safe drinking water was a key reason for the rise in kidney-related ailments.

Acknowledging the Covid relief measures extended by the trust, the minister commended the efforts in performing one million dialysis sessions.

“It is primarily the government’s responsibility to treat kidney patients. But to extend such services is a historic achievement for the trust” he said.

P.C. Parikh, chairman of the trust, said the contributions of dialysis centres amounted to saving Rs 125 crore overall. He urged the government to expedite Arogyasri payments.

“Earlier, it would take just a month’s time for the government to disburse funds. Now, we are being made to wait for close to eight months for the same,” he added.

Pointing out that Arogyasri costs for various treatments were not revised in ten years, he exhorted the minister to look into the issue.

In his response, Rao assured that the issue would be addressed and resolved soon.

“There was a huge demand for dialysis treatment before the formation of Telangana state. From having just three government-run dialysis centres before 2014, we now run 43 centres serving 12,000 kidney patients in the state,” he said.

The dialysis centres perform close to 500 sessions per day at a nominal fee of Rs 300 per session, a majority of which benefit BPL families.