Image from Hello San Carlos Facebook page - All provincial hospitals in the country will be equipped with dialysis machines
- This, according to the DOH, is aimed to complement the increase of benefits for PhilHealth members
- Health Secretary Janette Garin said that each dialysis center was granted a fund of P17 to P18 million
To complement the increase of benefits for PhilHealth members, the Department of Health (DOH) said each provincial hospital throughout the country will be equipped with dialysis machines.
Health Secretary Janette Garin made the announcement as she said that each dialysis center was granted P17 to P18 million funding, an article written by Rie Takumi on GMA News Online stated.
As such, a statement by the health department noted that a total of 326 dialysis clinics were licensed to operate all over the country in 2015.
It was in the same year that the DOH directed PhilHealth “to adjust its hemodialysis package from 45 to 90 sessions per year to increase the maximum coverage per patient,” the statement added.
As disclosed by Dr. Susan Jorge of the Philippine Renal Disease & Prevention Control Program during the kickoff ceremony of the National Kidney Awareness Month, the task was undertaken to counteract the dramatic increase in dialysis patients in the last ten years.
Jorge stressed that the increase in patients means that PhilHealth will have to put out more for the medical needs of its members.
In addition, Jorge said the number of cases of kidney diseases has increased from “8,000 to 15,000” in 10 years to 28,215 as of the present.
As she quoted data from the US Renal Data System, Jorge said the Philippines is “one of seven countries that showed” a rapid increase in cases of kidney disease in the last ten years.
Likewise, she said the Philippines is also one of the countries where diabetes noticeably lead to end stage renal disease; further stressing that the Philippines was identified as one of fifty countries that is becoming a diabetes hotspot.
Meanwhile, Dr. Nerissa Gerial of the National Kidney & Transplant Institute said the institute will offer free treatment to the first 100 patients on June 3, 10, 17, and 24 as part of the activities for the Kidney Awareness Month.
Gerial said patients with requests for urinalysis, creatinine, cystatin C, fasting blood sugar, cholesterol, and general ultrasound will be entertained.
Aside from blood pressure check and urinalysis screening, preventive nephrology lecture for grade school students will also be conducted at Barangay Piñahan Elementary School in Quezon City, she mentioned.
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