The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : She shows there is life after kidney failure

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Aug 24, 2007
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Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

She shows there is life after kidney failure

Alladi Jayasri

Dialysis patients form network, say no to transplant

Poornima Vyasulu

BANGALORE: Every month, the 48 dialysis centres in Bangalore city register nearly 22,000 dialyses. This means there are around 6,000 patients with renal failure who could use a kidney transplant, and quite a few of them actually do, thanks to a family member or a relative donating a kidney.

Soon, dialysis patients in all these centres, and in 18 centres in other cities of the State, will be able to draw courage and support from others like them — when the Dialysis Trust of Karnataka, a society set up by a group of patients at the Sagar Apollo Hospital — becomes a reality.

While it is well known that renal transplant is the best solution for end-stage renal disease (ESRD), a growing number of patients are taking a leaf out of Poornima Vyasulu’s book, to say “no” to transplant, and are showing how dialysis twice or thrice a week need not hamper normal life in any way.

Dr. Poornima Vyasulu, who was diagnosed with kidney failure four years ago, was shattered, and went into depression, making her will and virtually “counting the days till the inevitable end was to come”. But after her first dialysis, Dr. Vyasulu, who holds a Ph.D in management from the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi, learnt that “there is life after kidney failure —with dialysis”.

“Saying no to transplant, that too from a live donor, came very easily for me. I have reluctantly registered for a cadaver donor,” Dr. Vyasulu, who, as secretary of the Centre for Budget and Policy Studies, manages a hectic routine travelling extensively between her thrice-weekly dialysis to analyse and study panchayatiraj, healthcare and other sectors and policies. She drives herself to Sagar Apollo three nights a week, and gets home in the morning to carry on with her routine. She even manages to make time for her varied interests — theatre, and music, walking around the park near her Jayanagar home.

The dialysis support group began rather informally, and quite accidentally, when Dr. Vyasulu’s determination to get over the initial anger led her to talk to other patients in the hospital, and a camaraderie developed over a common cause in the dialysis rooms. Soon, all the 52 patients were obsessed with the idea of forming the support group, and even their nephrologists were excited enough to suggest the formation of a full-fledged society.

In no time, the objectives of the dialysis trust were outlined: Creating awareness about renal failure, dialysis, and removing myths and fears about dialysis, counselling each other and anyone who is newly diagnosed, as dialysis patients tend to go into depression over time. The dialysis trust is now thinking of going beyond the hospital’s premises to reach out to patients in other hospitals. Consultant nephrologists who visit other institutions are excited about such networking in those hospitals.

In time, a registry of all dialysis patients will be created, and all the centres linked in a network.

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