“It is 3 in the afternoon and I have been waiting for my treatment to begin since 10 in the morning. I am praying I am not asked to go to a private hospital for the dialysis treatment as I am very poor,” said Dilruba Khan, a patient of Acute Renal failure, sitting in the waiting lounge of the Nephrology Department, Kyber Teaching Hospital, Peshawar.
Khyber Teaching Hospital is a university hospital of Khyber Medical College in the city of Peshawar, Pakistan. KTH is one of the largest hospitals in the country being a tertiary health care facility serving a large population of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The devastating floods of 2010 majorly affected the vast majority of poor population of KP. The outbreaks of skin infections and acute gastroenteritis in the affected areas led to a sudden rise in Acute Renal Failure patients.
Department of Nephrology, KTH, and Lady Reading Hospital, are the only hospitals in KP offering Hemo Dialysis services. With 5 dialyses machines, operating 24/7 at KTH and having treated 7,632 patients over a period of one year, the hospital was treating patients beyond their operational capacity.
Department of Nephrology, Khyber Teaching Hospital, was awarded a grant of $77,193 through USAID’s U.S. Ambassador’s Fund Program to purchase additional 4 Hemo Dialysis machines and one Dialyzer Reprocessing System, treating 1,184 dialysis patients per month.
These additional machines established the Nephrology Department, KTH, on a sound footing, having an integrated set of state-of-the-art machines for acute emergencies as well as long term Hemodialysis needs, along with an appropriate arrangement for recycling consumables.
“Till a month ago, I had to wonder while waiting outside the ward if my turn will come today or not, and today I can tell you with full confidence I will be undergoing my routine treatment here,” expressed Gul Zaman, receiving treatment for a kidney infection.
