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Rep. Duterte, two other lawmakers push free dialysis for indigent kidney patients

- Jovee Marie N. Dela Cruz

ALARMED over the growing number of cases of end-stage kidney disease in the country and as the nation marks National Kidney Month this June, lawmakers are pushing for the passage of a measure requiring government hospitals to set up wards for dialysis and provide this treatment for free to indigent patients.

Davao City Rep. Paolo Duterte, Benguet Rep. Eric Yap and ACTCIS Party-list Rep. Edvic Yap, noted that dialysis treatment for Chronic Kidney Disease Stage 5 (CKD 5) or end-stage kidney disease remains costly for most Filipinos, especially for poor patients, which is why they are pressing Congress to approve their proposed measure as outlined under House Bill (HB) 7841.

Dialysis facilities also remain limited in public hospitals, resulting in long lines for poor CKD patients seeking treatment for this dreaded disease.

Duterte and his fellow authors said that even with the upgrade on the Philippine Health Insurance Corporatio­n (Philhealth) coverage for hemodialys­is from a maximum of 90 to 144 sessions, this is still not enough to cover the actual number of dialysis treatments needed by many CKD patients, given the severity and chronic nature of their disease.

Under current Philhealth guidelines, the 91st to 144th additional sessions shall be exclusivel­y used for outpatient hemodialys­is. According to reports, Philhealth plans to increase its coverage for hemodialys­is to 156 sessions starting this year.

The bill aims to institutio­nalize the grant of free dialysis sessions to indigent patients and make the treatment accessible to them in government hospitals.

“The cost of medical treatment for kidney disease remains exorbitant—beyond the reach of ordinary patients. CKD 5 can be treated with kidney transplant­ation or renal dialysis. However, while kidney transplant is a definitive treatment, the low levels of organ donations, lack of infrastruc­ture, and its high cost makes dialysis as the most viable option for renal patients,” the bill’s authors said.

A dialysis session costs around P2,000 to P5,000 per session, which means a patient needing this treatment thrice a week would have to shell out P6,000 to P15,000 a week, or P24,000 to P60,000 per month just to be able to survive.

Citing the latest available data from the National Kidney and Transplant Institute (NKTI), Duterte and his fellow authors noted that CKD 5 has been identified as the 7th leading cause of death in the country, with 120 Filipinos per million population being afflicted with the disease each year.

The latest estimates placed around 2.3 million Filipinos with CKD, Duterte said.

Duterte’s home city of Davao continues to rank third in the country with the most number of kidney diseases since 2017, according to reports quoting officials of the Philippine Society of Nephrology and the Davaobased Southern Philippine­s Medical Center (SPMC).

The American Journal of Kidney Diseases published a report in July 2020 stating “the Philippine­s in particular has experience­d a large rise in the prevalence of dialysis with an approximat­e increase of 400 percent over the past 10 years.”

Under HB 7841, all national, regional and provincial hospitals are required to establish, operate and maintain a dialysis ward or unit within two years after the measure becomes a law. These medical facilities are required to provide dialysis treatment to indigent patients free of charge.

Any hospital chief, administra­tor, or officer-in-charge who fails to comply with the provisions of the measure will be fined P50,000 to P100,000.

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