Lockdown, shut hospitals leave dialysis patients in Mumbai in a lurch

With hospitals and ambulance services that provide dialysis to those with kidney failure being impacted by the Covid-19 outbreak, many are faced with potentially

With hospitals and ambulance services that provide dialysis to those with kidney failure being impacted by the Covid-19 outbreak, many are faced with potentially life-threatening situations.

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For those with kidney failure, dialysis is essential as it removes toxins from their blood. “If a patient misses on his/her weekly dialysis, the toxins and fluid in the body get mixed with blood, which can even prove fatal,” said Dr Gautam Bhansali, consultant physician at Bombay Hospital.

Jitendra Tandel, 62, has been going to Shushrusha Hospital in Dadar for dialysis thrice a week, for the past 15 yearss. However, after two hospital staffers were diagnosed as Covid-positive, the hospital closed down its dialysis centre for disinfection on April 8. Guidelines issued by the health department require dialysis centres to become operational 24 hours after fumigation, but Shushrusha Hospital is yet to restart operations.

Tandel missed his scheduled appointment for dialysis on Thursday and is struggling to find a new centre. “I am surviving on one glass of water for the last four days. Though the hospital said they will start the dialysis centre in two days, it has been four days now,” he said.

When HT contacted Dr Shilpa Deshmukh, dean of Shushrusha Hospital, she said, “We had a meeting today about it and will soon start functioning.” The hospital has informed their registered dialysis patients that they must test for Covid-19 as a precautionary measure. On Monday, six new Covid-19 cases, including two doctors, were confirmed from the hospital.

Tandel, who submitted an application to be tested for Covid-19 on April 10 and is yet to hear back from the hospital, is among those concerned that the hospital may not reopen soon enough.

The lockdown has also made it difficult for patients to reach dialysis centres. Mulund resident Vitaldas Bhatt, 75, said the ambulance service on the telephone number 108 refused to ferry his 65-year-old wife, who is handicapped, to the dialysis centre. Ultimately, a neighbour helped the Bhatt couple.

Vasai resident Kamlesh Anuja, 40, said he was harassed by the police when he was going to the dialysis centre about five kilometres from his home. “On Friday, police stopped me and despite showing my dialysis cards and documents, they started harassing me. They told me that I looked healthy and made fake documents to travel,” said Anuja. The police let him go after he showed them the channel for dialysis in his hand.

A number of groups are trying to help patients make alternative arrangements and have reported shortage of necessary equipment, like dialyzers (an artificial kidney which filters the blood in dialysis centers) which are usually imported from other countries. “Due to this, dialysis centres are forced to use the same dialyzers 10-12 times which earlier, patients reused for five to six times. Other than this, there is also a shortage of blood thinner,” said Sejal Jobanputra, a coordinator with the group Kidney Warriors Foundation.

Additionally, patients with damaged kidneys, known as uremic patients, are particularly vulnerable to infection. “Family members living with dialysis patients must follow the precautions and regulations given to patients to prevent person-to-person transmission of Covid-19 within the family,” said epidemiologist Dr Om Srivastava.