Patients have to pay millions

Despite the abolition of hospital user fees in Jamaica, 454 patients suffering from End Stage Kidney Disease (ESRD) will have to pay a combined $317.8 million per year for dialysis care.

Head of the Renal Unit at the Cornwall Regional Hospital (CRH), Dr. Curtis Yeates, explained that the average cost for dialysis per patient is $700,000 annually. However, the treatment can cost as much as $1.1m per annum.

He however noted during the official opening of the Haemodialysis Unit by the Scotia Foundation at CRH that with approximately 900 new persons are diagnosed each year with ESRD.

“There aren’t enough haemodialysis units in the island. It is clear that we are not meeting, and unlikely to meet, the demand for treatment of kidney failure”.

In order to mitigate the possibility of suffering from ESRD, Dr. Yeates recommended prevention as the best solution to this costly illness, which is mostly caused by hypertension and diabetes.

CRH, which boasts the largest Haemodialysis Unit in the English-speaking Caribbean with 16 dialysis units, will serve up to 124 patients each week, with the help of over $24m in donation by the inception of the Scotia Foundation in 1998.