Two hospitals in Rupandehi have started cost-free dialysis service under instruction from the Ministry of Health. 

The Gautam Buddha Community Heart Hospital, Butwal and Siddhartha Nagar City Hospital in Bhairahawa have started cost-free service with permission from the government. 

The Gautam Buddha Hospital will also provide regular and routine health examinations and follow-up check ups of patients undergoing dialysis free of cost. 

The patients are required to go through routine check ups every month and undertake HbSAg, HCV and HIV tests every three months. The CBC, RFT, platelets, calcium, phosphorus, uric acid, lipid profile, total protein, albumin and blood sugar tests must be held regularly to know the health condition of the patients, the hospital said. 

The government's decision to make kidney dialysis cost-free will be of huge relief for the patients who cannot take other tests due to economic constraints. Hospital Chairman, Ajaj Alam, said the routine examination per patient costs an annual Rs 40,000. 

The Gautam Buddha Hospital claims to be the first health institute to make the follow- up check ups and regular tests cost-free even though state-owned hospitals are yet to introduce the service free of cost in the wake of the government's decision to make kidney dialysis cost-free. 

In Nepal, 30 million or around 10 per cent of the total population are learnt to be suffering from some sort of kidney ailment. Moreover, 300,000 kidney patients or 10 per cent of the 30 million are reported to be suffering from chronic kidney ailments. RSS