CLINIX Tshepo-Themba Private Hospital in Soweto has opened its first kidney and dialysis clinic with the hope of easing the burden faced by patients in the densely populated township.
*Sara Mthethwa, of Dobsonville, was in the first batch of patients to use one of the 11 new state-of-the-art dialysis chair-beds.
Each chair boasts an overhead trolley and a plasma TV.
Mthethwa was diagnosed with a kidney condition in 2011 and in the same year, was hospitalised for three weeks at Life Flora Clinic in Roodepoort, western Johannesburg.
She had to travel several kilometres to Flora Clinic for her dialysis treatment three times a week for a four-hour session.
Dialysis machines are used to filter blood to remove excess water and waste products when the kidneys are damaged.
"I'm happier now because this clinic is at my doorstep and there is no way that I will be late for my sessions," Mthethwa, 61, said.
According to Tshepo-Themba spokeswoman Marjorie Thekiso, medical aid patients will pay about R1500 per session to use the machine while private patients will pay about R1300.
Since the dialysis clinic opened last Tuesday, it has registered 24 patients who will get treatment three times a week.
The hospital collaborated with Germany's Fresenius Medical Care, one of the world's leading manufacturers of dialysis machines, to bring the machines to Soweto.
Fresenius Medical Care's staff will facilitate the treatment of the patients. - sifilel@sowetan.co.za
*Not her real name.
Dialysis machines ease backlog
CLINIX Tshepo-Themba Private Hospital in Soweto has opened its first kidney and dialysis clinic with the hope of easing the burden faced by patients in the densely populated township.
*Sara Mthethwa, of Dobsonville, was in the first batch of patients to use one of the 11 new state-of-the-art dialysis chair-beds.
Each chair boasts an overhead trolley and a plasma TV.
Mthethwa was diagnosed with a kidney condition in 2011 and in the same year, was hospitalised for three weeks at Life Flora Clinic in Roodepoort, western Johannesburg.
She had to travel several kilometres to Flora Clinic for her dialysis treatment three times a week for a four-hour session.
Dialysis machines are used to filter blood to remove excess water and waste products when the kidneys are damaged.
"I'm happier now because this clinic is at my doorstep and there is no way that I will be late for my sessions," Mthethwa, 61, said.
According to Tshepo-Themba spokeswoman Marjorie Thekiso, medical aid patients will pay about R1500 per session to use the machine while private patients will pay about R1300.
Since the dialysis clinic opened last Tuesday, it has registered 24 patients who will get treatment three times a week.
The hospital collaborated with Germany's Fresenius Medical Care, one of the world's leading manufacturers of dialysis machines, to bring the machines to Soweto.
Fresenius Medical Care's staff will facilitate the treatment of the patients. - sifilel@sowetan.co.za
*Not her real name.