Health Minister calls on persons to get registered

PERSONS who undergo dialysis will from next week be able to access financial assistance to fund their treatment.

The government has set aside $180 million in Budget 2022 to alleviate the burden of expensive dialysis treatment for persons with chronic kidney disease.

Minister of Health Dr Frank Anthony, on Friday announced that the initiative will be rolled out in the coming week, providing $600,000 annually to patients on dialysis treatment.

“Right now, there are a number of persons who require dialysis and generally these persons would have end-stage renal failure…the challenge, however, is that persons are not able to pay for their dialysis treatment.
“So, we want to start sometime next week to start distributing the cheques to these patients,” Dr. Anthony said.

The Health Minister said even with a number of non-governmental organisations providing dialysis to patients and subsidising the cost, it remains a challenge, especially for persons receiving dialysis three times per week.
He is calling on persons to visit the Ministry of Health and get registered for this assistance as soon as possible.

“We’re right now in the process of registering those patients, so anyone who knows of anybody who needs dialysis, you can get them to register with the ministry,” Dr. Anthony said.

He added that a medical document and the person’s biodata will be required, to confirm that person is on dialysis or has been recommended for the treatment.

“We of course will have to validate that that person is actually on dialysis or was recommended for dialysis, so a medical document to verify that will have to be produced and once we have that and the person’s biodata, then we’re able to put them on a database and we’ll be able to issue them with the funding,” Dr Anthony said.

Additional information on this initiative could be accessed through advertisements in the newspapers, social media, the Health Ministry’s Facebook page, along with telephone numbers for further queries on the initiative. (DPI)