Temples of Humanity: Hyd-based Mahavir Jain Trust offering dialysis at Rs. 300
With over 10 lakh dialysis completed on 14 October, what started small 12 years ago has now become a very big humanitarian organization that is being talked about across the world.
By Newsmeter Network Published on 8 Nov 2021 1:11 PM GMT
Hyderabad: No one should die for want of dialysis - when this was taken up as the mission by P.C Parekh and his 16 Jain friends in 2009, the Bhagwan Mahavir Jain Relief Foundation Trust (MBJRFT) was born. Since then the trust has been offering dialysis at Rs. 300 as against Rs. 1,200 to Rs. 3,000 charged in corporate hospitals.
With over 10 lakh dialysis completed on 14 October, what started small 12 years ago has now become a very big humanitarian organization that is being talked about across the world.
"In India, out of 100 kidney failure patients, only one goes for kidney transplantation. Ten-15 go for dialysis. The rest are dying without treatment," says Gautam Chand Chordia, one of the trustees. "We have never denied treatment to any patient," he adds.
More importantly, the initiative has reduced the financial burden on patients and has made healthcare more accessible to lower-income groups. Each patient needs eight to 12 dialysis sessions. "We have 28 patients who underwent more than 1,000 sessions and 400 patients who underwent 500 sessions," explains Gautam. It has saved over Rs. 125 crores of the patients' money.
From 16 dialysis sessions a day to close to 500 sessions, the trust has come a long way. The trust's first dialysis centre was set up in 2011 at King Koti government hospital with 24 machines. With 61 machines, the centre at Mahavir Hospital is the biggest center now.
Also, the initiative is a good example of how government and not-for-profit organizations have joined hands to make the lives of people better. The trustees say that the government provided rent-free land for its operations at various places.
Besides subsidized dialysis, the trust also provides injections at prices way cheaper than the MRP. For instance, Erythropoietin 4K, an injection, is provided by the trust at Rs. 160. Every month a total of 14,000 injections are supplied by the trust.
Even during the COVID-19 pandemic when many private hospitals stopped providing dialysis services, each of their centres worked without interruption to ensure that no patient lost his or her life due to denial of treatment.
The trust, popular as a 'temple of humanity', continues to bring a smile to the faces of patients and their families every single day.
