5-year track record key to check dialysis centre’s quality: Chandigarh PGI’s nephrology head

To assess the quality of any dialysis centre, one should look into the number of patients undergoing dialysis there for five years. If patients have been receiving dialysis for five years at a centre, its quality is considered satisfactory, said head of nephrology department at PGIMER, Dr HS Kohli.

Dr Kohli was speaking at PGIMER’s public engagement initiative “Janta ke Saath: PGI ka Haath”, a programme conducted at the auditorium of its Advanced Paediatric Centre.

In this public forum, patients on haemodialysis for over a decade and those, who are undergoing haemodialysis at home, shared their journey of the life-saving procedure. Experts also deliberated on patient-centric issues.

Dr Kohli highlighted that most patients died from infections during dialysis at centres contrary to the standard. He Kohli explained that when a patient was labelled with kidney failure, there were only two options – kidney transplant or dialysis.

Patients often asked about the success rate of transplantation and were informed that it was not the final solution, added Dr Kohli. The other option was dialysis, and if the patient underwent dialysis at the right centre while following standards, the success rate improved, he shared.