Why no dialysis unit in every district, asks SC

The Supreme Court Monday issued notice to the central, all state governments and union territories, asking them why they should not set up a dialysis unit in every district.

A bench of Chief Justice P. Sathasivam, Justice Ranjana Prakash Desai and Justice Ranjan Gogoi issued notice on a public interest litigation (PIL) when senior counsel Abhishek Manu Singhvi told the court two lakh people were dying in the country every year due to renal failure, or a rate of 547 people per day or two people per minute.

The PIL has been moved by advocate Sanjeeb Panigrahi, who said there are 671 districts in the country and the number of dialysis unit in each district should be commensurate to its size and population.

The PIL petitioner urged the court to issue directions to the central, all state governments and union territories to forthwith initiate steps to prevent incidents of kidney failure and related renal diseases by having at least one dialysis centre in each district headquarter hospital throughout the country.

The PIL also sought direction that such "procedures and mechanism" be developed to minimise "the deaths due to renal failure primarily by establishing dialysis centres in every district headquarter of the country commensurate with the number of persons afflicted with Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) and in need of dialysis support."

It has also sought putting in place a regulatory or quality control mechanism for dialysis units run by private hospitals so that chronic kidney/renal patients could be given efficacious medical support.

The PIL said the incidence of CKD in India is high and according to the National Kidney Foundation of India, about 100 people in one million suffer from kidney diseases. These diseases can be treated and in some cases are curable. However, of the people requiring dialysis in India, only 22.5 percent receive treatment.

A study by the National Kidney Foundation of India says there are 7.85 million people suffering from chronic kidney failure in India.

A recent research suggests one in 10 of the population may have CKD, but it is less common in young adults (one in 50) and one in two people among those aged over 75 years.