Health Minister Dr Fuad Khan says Government will not subsidise the cost of blood tests for kidney patients who are already getting free dialysis. For the first time ever, patients suffering from renal failure are getting up to three sessions of dialysis for free.
“We are already saving them up to $10,000 (a month) because we are paying for dialysis sessions. To now subsidise blood tests will only encourage people to live unhealthy lifestyles. If you are forced to pay for something, you will take enough care to ensure that you and your family adhere to a healthy lifestyle,” Khan said in an interview.
Saying there were too many obese people in the country, both adults and children, Khan said Government was not in a position to provide everything for free. “People refuse to have healthy lifestyles and refuse to take their medication and end up with serious kidney failure and that is why there is a volume of kidney patients,” he said.
A total of 16 private health institutions were authorised by Government in March to provide dialysis to hundreds of patients with renal failure, Khan said, and since that initiative was provided the number of patients accessing treatment had increased ten-fold.
Some kidney patients said they were uncomfortable with the existing arrangement and were better off when they accessed care at the public hospitals. One doctor said dialysis patients must do two separate blood tests to monitor the state of their blood before and after each dialysis session. Renal patient Sharon Sabessar said this requirement was a case of some of the private institutions holding patients to ransom.
“They telling us that we cannot get dialysis unless we get the blood tests done. We can barely afford to buy medication, how can they expect us to pay for blood work?” she questioned. Sabessar said she paid $2,000 monthly for medication as it was unavailable at the dispensary of the San Fernando General Hospital.
“Since last year we cannot get our medicine at the hospital, so some of us have to buy it. Not everybody could afford it,” she added. She said before the Government signed an agreement with the 16 private health institutions, all blood work was done for free at the hospital. “We are asking whether the Government can subsidise the blood work because we really cannot afford to pay $4,000 every month,” Sabessar said.
Another patient Carver Ochoo said he was unhappy. “It is unfair because at every institution the price varies. We do not know if the health institutions are already being paid by Government for the blood tests. We need clarification on this,” Ochoo said. Contacted yesterday, one of the directors at a private medical institution contracted by the Ministry of Health said the State covers the bill for the dialysis and not the blood work.
“We do not compel the patient to do the blood tests at our institution. They can go to the hospital if they wish,” she said. The official said discussions were currently ongoing with the ministry to determine whether the blood test fees could also be subsidised. A meeting is expected to be held at the old casualty building of the San Fernando General Hospital on Saturday to discuss the problems.