Safdarjung Hospital launches paediatric hemodialysis facility

New Delhi: Safdarjung Hospital, the Central government-run hospital in Delhi, has become the second in North India to start paediatric hemodialysis facilities for children, which is a facility for purifying the blood of kidney patients.   

The All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) Delhi is the other institute where this facility is provided. With the arrival of these services at Safdarjung Hospital, children can undergo dialysis for free. 

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While launching the facility, the hospital Medical Superintendent Dr B L Sherwal said that it would be of great help to children with kidney failure. Sherwal, according to a media report in the Indian Express, said, "Kidney disease is not uncommon in children. Several deaths happen because of acute kidney failure, many of which are treatable. Chronic kidney failure accounts for around 10 per cent of all outpatient attendance which makes a large number, and most of them require hemodialysis in the period awaiting a kidney transplant." 

He said that the facility would give them a new lease of life. There have been multiple cases where children suffering from chronic kidney disease and end-stage renal disease were referred to other hospitals due to the absence of hemodialysis services. Around two or three patients requiring peritoneal dialysis (a treatment for kidney failure that uses the lining of abdomen, or belly, to filter blood) come to the hospital on a daily average basis due to acute kidney failure. 

According to experts, the impact of this would be seen after 5-6 months, as it would receive patients from Delhi and the other surrounding states. 

Medical Dialogues team had earlier reported that bringing good news to patients suffering from kidney-related ailments, a new state-of-the-art haemodialysis unit had been launched at its super-speciality block of the largest central government hospital in India, Safdarjung Hospital.