Cost of dialysis treatment will be reduced soon - Akbar

Health Minister Rosy Akbar says the cost of dialysis treatment will be reduced soon and the plans will be unveiled shortly.

Akbar confirmed in parliament that the cost of dialysis is high at the moment because the consumables are very expensive and the volume is very little.

She says they are promoting private investment in this area and the plans will be unveiled soon.

She made this clear after National Federation Party MP Professor Biman Prasad asked Akbar what is the criteria used to allocate funds from the $300,000 budgetary allocation to patients in urgent need of kidney dialysis at the Kidney Foundation.

Akbar has clarified that the government does not allocate any funds for the dialysis carried out by the Kidney Foundation.

She says the government has allocated $300,000 over two years for the purchase of supplies for dialysis machines at CWM, Lautoka and Labasa hospitals.

These services are provided to patients in public hospitals.

The Health Minister says the government currently funds dialysis services for two groups of patients however she has stated that Fiji cannot currently fund dialysis for all kidney chronic patients.

Akbar says every year in Fiji, about 600 people develop complete kidney failure or end stage kidney disease.

She says Fiji has one of the highest rates of Non Communicable Diseases in the world and this is having an impact on our workforce and second highest rate of diabetes in the world which is 15.6% of adults.

The Health Minister also reveals that salt consumption in Fiji is double the recommended amount and high blood pressure is increasing.

Akbar also says that NCDs incur 44.9% of health in-patients expenditure.

She stresses that prevention is better than cure.

SODELPA’s Niko Nawaikula asked the government to consider increasing the dialysis treatment allocation since so much money is allocated to the international golf tournament in Fiji.

Akbar says this is a budgetary allocation issue and submissions are currently underway.

NFP parliamentarian Parmod Chand then asked if the dialysis cost for patients in Vanua Levu can be subsidised for the people in the North due to the economy in Labasa.

Akbar says the government is looking after the interest of everyone in the country, not just the people of Labasa.