–procedure can be accessed free of charge
–first procedure performed on female patient
THE Georgetown Public Hospital (GPHC) is now fully equipped to perform haemodialysis on patients with renal failure; and to this end, yesterday performed its first dialysis procedure on a local candidate, who is to receive two more treatments over the next few days. Housed in the National Blood Transfusion Centre at Lamaha and East Streets, Georgetown, the facility is headed by Internal Medicine Consultant, Guyanese Dr. Ramsundar Doobay, a relative of Dr. Ram Doobay who runs the Doobay Dialysis Centre at Annandale, East Coast Demerara.
Dr. Ramsundar Doobay is one of the first post-graduate doctors in surgery. He was trained at the Doobay Dialysis Centre by persons in the diaspora. Three other persons have been trained by the Doobay Dialysis Centre to man the new facility.
Capable of providing heamodialysis on three persons at a time, the Centre complements the Doobay Dialysis Centre and the 4G Dialysis Centre in South Ruimveldt, Georgetown, thus bringing the life-saving procedure to persons with renal failure.

The GPHC’s first haemodialysis patient at the facility yesterday

Moreover, the Dialysis Centre at the GPHC has an added advantage, in that persons in need of the procedure can access it free of charge, with all costs being borne by the GPHC. This is according to Chief Executive Officer of the GPHC, Mr. Michael Khan, who added that the facility is geared to provide the service six days per week – Monday through Saturday.
Albeit, Dr. Ramsaran said, since the provision of haemodialysis is a very expensive procedure, taking into consideration the drugs required by the person on treatment, he is hopeful that some kind of partnership arrangement can be entered into, so that the patient would not have to bear any of the costs.
Dr Ramsarran outlined that the woman to whom treatment was introduced yesterday will be the only patient for the remainder of this month. The public will be advised on the time and date haemodialysis treatment will be rolled out to other members of the public.
“We have the capacity, we have the staff, we have the machines, and can dialyze six patients per day,” Khan assured. Nevertheless, he added that only in-house patients would be accommodated at this time. The woman placed on treatment yesterday is a patient of the Female Medical Ward.
Health Minister, Dr. Bheri Ramsaran said the institution’s first candidate has been identified for kidney transplantation, and will be kept on dialysis at the centre until such time as a donor can be had for her.
Dr. Ramsaran recalled that kidney transplant had previously been done at the GPHC, but that service has not been available for quite some time. He, however, said that the Health Ministry has given a commitment to reintroducing kidney transplantation here, hence the opening up of the GPHC’s dialysis centre can be regarded as one of the prerequisites for the creation of that capacity.
Haemodialysis uses a special filter, called a dialyzer, which functions as an artificial kidney to clean a person’s blood. The dialyzer is a canister connected to the haemodialysis machine; and during treatment, the blood travels through tubes into the dialyzer, which filters out wastes, extra salt, and extra water. The cleaned blood flows through another set of tubes back into the body. The hemodialysis machine monitors blood flow and removes wastes from the dialyzer.
Hemodialysis is usually performed at a dialysis centre three times per week for three to four hours.
For the service to be accessed, a person with renal disease must first present himself/herself at the GPHC’s Outpatient Department to obtain a referral to the Medical Clinic and the physician at the clinic would determine whether or not the person were genuinely in need of dialysis. He however cautioned, “People might think they can just run and come here, but it doesn’t work like that. Not everybody [with a kidney problem] is for dialysis. The physician will make that judgement as to whether dialysis will benefit them.”
This statement concurs with Dr. Doobay’s admonition at the opening of the Doobay Dialysis Centre at Annandale in 2010. On that occasion, Dr. Doobay had emphasized that there is a primarily role for the Doobay Dialysis Centre – helping people with diabetes and renal problems manage their condition and so avoid altogether having to reach the stage of going on to dialysis.
He had stressed that patient education is key to the management of such conditions, and had advocated for a proactive approach to dealing with renal disease. Dr. Doobay had cautioned against placing people on dialysis too early, when there are other procedures which could be employed. Alluding to some cases he had seen, he had said that had such persons’ blood sugar and blood pressure been monitored and treated, it would have eliminated the need for dialysis.
Insisting that dialysis is not the proper answer to managing renal disease, Dr. Doobay had said that what introducing haemodialysis means in effect, “is that you have failed to manage renal disease.” The emphasis, he urged, should be on preventing patients with renal disease from having to go on dialysis by monitoring closely their creatinine, blood sugar reading and such things.
The kidneys remain one of the most important organs of the human body. Without them the blood could not be processed and waste removed from the body. Its main function, therefore, is to filter and keep the blood clean and chemically balanced. It is therefore important for persons to strive at all times to maintain healthy kidneys, and avoid developing renal problems which can ultimately result in End Stage Renal Disease (ESRD) or untimely death.
Located on either side of the lower back (beneath the rib cage) the kidneys are two tiny organs about the size of a person’s fist. It is tasked with the processing of about 200 quarts of blood every day, removing about two quarts of waste products and extra water. This waste is then passed on to the bladder by way of the ureter, for subsequent excretion out of the body in the form of urine.
Most kidney diseases attack the nephrons, tiny units in the kidney (about one million in number), causing them to lose their filtering capacity.  The two most common causes of kidney disease are diabetes and high blood pressure. People with a family history of these two problems are also at risk for kidney disease.