The Nephrology Department of the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC) has been gifted eight dialysis machines from the Division of Nephrology and Hypertension of the University of Vermont’s Medical School to provide better care to patients with kidney disease.
The machines were handed over to the GPHC yesterday by Dr. J.R. Deep Ford, a former professor of the Vermont Medical School, a report from the Government Information Agency (GINA) stated.
Dialysis machines are used to treat patients diagnosed with stage five kidney disease, which is also known as an ‘end stage’ kidney disease.
Stage five kidney disease can be described as the condition where 80 to 90 percent of a person’s kidney is no longer functional, which causes a buildup of toxins in the body, resulting in those affected falling ill. The dialysis machine utilises a catheter, which is inserted either at the neck or at the groin area of the patient. The blood is filtered through the machine and restored to the body. The machine functions as a replacement for the kidney.
Currently, 25 patients are receiving Peritoneal Dialysis and 22 patients are receiving haemodialysis at the GPHC.