The Ministry of Health is aiming to begin the payout of up to $600,000 in financial support to each hemodialysis patient countrywide from next week, Minister of Health Dr Frank Anthony said on Friday.
By way of public notices, the ministry has started registering persons who are eligible for the support which was announced earlier in the year as a budget measure.
A total of $180 million has been budgeted for the assistance programme, which is expected to benefit around 300 persons.
“We are right now in the process of registering those patients. So, anyone who knows of anybody who needs dialysis can get them to register with the ministry,” Anthony said during Friday’s COVID-19 update.
According to a notice posted on the Health Ministry’s Facebook page on Wednesday, patients who are diagnosed with end state renal failure are eligible for financial support annually. It also states that patients must present valid identification and a valid medical report to support dialysis.
Anthony explained that the ministry would have to verify that the applicant is a dialysis patient or was recommended for dialysis. “So once we have that and the person’s biodata, then we are able to put them on a database and we will be able to issue them with the funding. So we want to start sometime next week—to start distributing the cheques to these patients, so we are urging that people get registered as quickly as possible,” he said.
For more information the ministry advises interested persons to call its Medical Treatment Department (225-0113).
In explaining the rationale behind the intervention, Anthony noted that many persons diagnosed with end stage renal failure and placed on dialysis have been struggling to afford the treatment.
As a result, he said the government was aiming to reduce the burden on those persons.
Kidney failure, also called end-stage renal disease, is the last stage of chronic kidney disease.
According to the Mayo Clinic website, acute kidney failure occurs when the kidney suddenly becomes unable to filter waste products from the blood.
