SAVANNA-LA-MAR, Westmoreland — While he would prefer lifestyle changes to ward off kidney disease, clinical coordinator for the Western Regional Health Authority (WRHA) Dr Delroy Fray has agreed with Member of Parliament (MP) for Westmoreland Western George Wright that a dialysis machine is needed at Savanna-la-Mar Public General Hospital.

“Based on the number of patients that require dialysis, it would be good if we could set up a unit in Savanna-la-Mar,” Dr Fray told the Jamaica Observer Monday.

All haemodialysis within the public health-care system is now done at Cornwall Regional Hospital, placing a tremendous strain on that facility and taking a toll on patients who need care.

Speaking during a building expansion unveiling ceremony for Savanna-la-Mar Hospital last Friday, Wright made the case for a dialysis machine at the institution.

“I’m going to use this opportunity to, on behalf of our citizens, request a dialysis machine here at the Savanna-la-Mar Hospital,” he appealed.

A dialysis machine is used to assist patients whose kidneys are unable to function properly by filtering blood to remove waste products and excess fluid. With no machine available at the 61-year-old type B facility, the first-term MP sounded the alarm that people who are unable to afford the cost of treatment elsewhere are dying.

“You have persons who would have been waiting to see a dialysis machine here in Westmoreland,” stated Wright.

“For persons to go privately, it’s a high cost,” he noted.

It costs between $10,000 and $17,000 per treatment or approximately $2 million annually to obtain treatment at a private institution. On the other hand, the service is provided free of cost at government-run public institutions. People with end-stage kidney disease are required to receive at least two treatments per week.

Health and Wellness Minister Dr Christopher Tufton, who was guest speaker at the ceremony where Wright made his appeal, did not immediately respond to the request of his colleague MP.

When asked for a comment Monday, Dr Fray outlined the hurdles that would need to be overcome to instal a dialysis machine at the hospital in Savanna-la-Mar.

“One, you would need space to set up a dialysis unit because it’s just not like a ward. You have to set up the equipment. The equipment has to have a different connection. There is water flow, electrical flow, etc. It requires an area that has to be fitted for that purpose,” explained the clinical coordinator.

Secondly, Dr Fray said, a nephrologist — an internist who trained in nephrology — would be required to monitor what is taking place.

“At this point in time, we only have one nephrologist in the region, and that person is at Cornwall Regional Hospital. I believe that we need to have more, and we should look to the future to put in dialysis units, even three or four, I believe, in Savanna-la-Mar, which would take the pressure off us at Cornwall, and it would be easy for the patient in Westmoreland. So, I am of the opinion that it is necessary,” he stated.

For now, Dr Fray is urging patients with chronic diseases to adhere to their prescribed medication as a means of preventing chronic or end-stage kidney disease.

He stressed that he prefers preaching and practising prevention to calling for dialysis machines.

“The education must be about prevention and not… people jump up [and say], ‘Oh, we need dialysis!’ We are looking at the back end. Let’s look at the front end and prevent these things,” stated Dr Fray.

“I talk passionately about it because I’ve seen it with cancer care, I’ve seen it with hypertensive care, I’ve seen it with diabetic care. I want people to know that you can prevent it [the need for dialysis treatment],” the clinical coordinator added passionately.

Dr Fray explained that uncontrolled diseases such as diabetes and hypertension are the long-term contributing factors for kidney disease.

“More people need dialysis because, one, they are not compliant with their hypertensive and diabetic medication which, if you have poor control for those, it means you’re going to end up needing dialysis. Our emphasis… out in what I would refer to as the paraphernalia, is to have aggressive control of our diabetes, [and] hypertensive patients. The NHF (National Health Fund), which supplies our drugs, sees that need and they ensure that they have pharmacists all over,” he noted.

“If you look at any of our hospitals now, the vast majority of patients coming in for admission are patients that have complications from diabetes and high blood pressure,” added Dr Fray.