Health Minister opens ultra-modern Dialysis Centre at Kotelawala Defense University Hospital

Health Minister, Pavithra Wanniarachchi, inaugurated the ultra-modern Dialysis Centre of the Kotelawala Defense University Hospital at Werahera on Thursday.

Renal services began six months ago with renal clinic and inward admissions.

The new state-of-the-art dialysis facility is a 13-bed unit equipped with the latest Fresenius 4008S and 5008 machines. For the first-ever time, Heamodiafiltration has been introduced to Sri Lanka. This new form of dialysis is safer and more comfortable to kidney failure patients, who also have cardiac issues.

Another feature of the facility is that it is equipped with a reverse osmosis RO (Twin) system with a heat and chemical sterilization central supply loop. This is the safest and purest water dialysis system in a Sri Lankan unit due to the use of ultra pure RO water.

As a result, the chances of bacteremia from contaminated water is very low as the water is 99.9% purified.

The unit is also equipped with wall mounted oxygen, suckers. With user-friendly dialysis beds and chairs there are television screens for every patient.

Kt/V is online giving an adequacy of dialysis data. The approximate cost of equipment alone is Rs. 50 million. More than 500 dialysis are expected to be performed per month.

Initial dialysis for poor/acute patients will be given free of charge. Chronic and regular dialysis will be available at both economical and standard rates.

The staff includes around 20 employees comprising fully-trained medical officers, nursing sisters, dialysis nurses and technical staff.

The unit is headed by Vidyajyothi Rezvi Sheriff, senior professor of medicine, who introduced dialysis and kidney transplantation to Sri Lanka in 1984.

With dialysis available, he plans to introduce kidney transplantation within the next few months the way he did in the private sector and National Hospital of Sri Lanka (NHSL).