A Yeoman service in dialysis for poor

KOCHI: The friendship formed during their formative years led to this rare humanitarian gesture. At a time when kidney failure is wrecking many lives, the Navajeevanam Free Dialysis Centre is rendering a yeoman service to the deserving. Kidney patients require dialysis at least twice a week, which costs around `25,000 a month. Moreover, it should be done very carefully and hygienically, else the patient’s condition will deteriorate.Navajeevanam won the Krishna Iyer Foundation Award for doing 75,000 dialysis without even taking a rupee. This is the first of its kind in India, said Ananda Kumar, chief executive of the centre. He received the award during Krishna Iyer’s birth anniversary celebrations held in Kochi recently.A project of the Sri Sathya Sai Orphanage Trust, the dialysis centre was founded in  March 2006. The four friends, Ananda Kumar, Paul K V, Paul K J and Afra who were together during their school, college and political lives in Mattanchery, parted ways as they grew up. But when their friend, the late Afra, fell a victim of kidney ailment, it was shocker.When Afra enquired about the free dialysis centre in Puttaparthy, unfortunately it had shut down due to kidney rackets.Empathising with Afra and all other patients who found dialysis unaffordable, Ananda decided then and there to start a free dialysis centre.He went from pillar to post for support. The first meeting, which commenced at Gandhi Bhavan, Kochi, dispersed sans resolution. “None were willing to fund us but we decided to start it at any cost,” said Ananda.Finally it was Justice V R Krishna Iyer who  donated Rs 1,000 towards it, said Ananda.Now Navajeevanam has centres in nine districts-- Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam, Alappuzha, Ernakulam, Pathanamthitta, Palakkad, Kasargod, Kannur and Malappuram. They intend to have them in all the districts in the state. Soon, they will be starting in Kottayam. They have tie-ups with hospitals, where they provide machines and take care of other dialysis needs. “Pain and other aches arise if dialyis is not done timely. For the poor it is unaffordable too,” said, Zeenath, Afra’s wife who is the joint secretary of the centre. Presently, 24 poorest of the poor patients are undergoing free life-time dialysis as the patients can’t afford transplantation. Around 800 patients are there in the waiting list. “Only after a patient dies, dialysis is offered to another. Meanwhile, we are planning to open new dialysis centres,” said Zeenath.  Plans are afoot to start a centre at General Hospital, Ernakulam, but the procedures are time-consuming and tedious. “It’s almost ready, and the unit will be set up soon,” said Ananda. “We have crossed several hurdles to reach here and have miles to go,” he said.