ROTARY DIALYSIS CENTRE
Rotary Pollachi has been nurturing the dream of setting up a permanent healthcare facility for a long time. This dream was given a life by the board of directors of the club to explore the possibility of setting up a facility at the beginning of the rotary year 2020-21.
A community assessment was done to ensure that such a healthcare facility is of immense value to the public of Pollachi. The community assessment gave a thumbs up to setting up a Dialysis Centre.
The number of people who depend upon Dialysis thrice a week is a lot in Pollachi and currently, they are going to far-off places to get their Dialysis done. The number of machines available both at the government hospital and private hospitals were taken into account and it clearly showed that the current capacity is far outnumbered by the number of people who need them.
There are basically 2 categories of people in the strata of our society who are dialysis-dependent.
- Economically poor who cannot afford the cost of dialysis 3 times a week. They have to either go to GH or to a private facility where there is a government insurance scheme available.
- people who can afford it but they have to go either to Coimbatore or Tirupur for want of a better facility.
Taking into account the above data, Rotary Pollachi through its Board Resolution decided that we will set up such a Dialysis facility for the benefit of the public.
FUNDING:
Rotary Pollachi has got many generous Rotarians who have helped in its long history to set up various permanent projects and for this project Rotarian, Dr. K. Saravanaraja volunteered and generously offered his hospital premises to set up the Dialysis center at no cost of rent or deposit.
This helped immensely where the need for a rented place and all other contractual obligations associated with that was solved. The Budget preparation for such a facility happened and it was decided that at a cost of about 25 Lakhs as initial funding, a two-bed facility can be set up inside the ASD Hospital premises.
The fundraiser was a grand success and with pride, we can say that within a matter of days the entire amount of 25 Lakhs required for the initial cost was collected through our Rotarians and well-wishers from other locations and even abroad.
Orders were placed for the state-of-the-art machinery from Germany. Contracts were given to set up the RO plant and all other associated work. We have not compromised on the quality of the machinery and went in for the best in class and even the accessories were purchased keeping in mind the safety and well-being of the patients. The facility is equipped to have 5 machines.
The infrastructure has been provided keeping in mind the future. Hence 3 more machines can be added to this facility. The current setup can do 2160 dialysis sessions per year. When 3 more machines get added then we will be doing 5400 sessions in a year. Rotary certainly be “Saving lives” and making a difference to society.
The Covid pandemic 2nd wave came unannounced and took all of us by surprise and that put a big roadblock as far as this project is concerned.
However, with the help of our vendors, we have managed to complete all the work pertaining to this project and now it is ready for commissioning.
On June 28th, the last Monday of the Rotary year (2020-21), this prestigious long-term, permanent healthcare project will be commissioned and dedicated to the public by the Rotary District Governor Rtn. MD. Dr. PC. Harikrishnan and our Club’s Charter President Rtn. Dr. BK. Krishnaraj Vanavarayar.
When the word was sent to the public representatives namely Er. K. Shamuga Sundaram, B. E., Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha constituency, Pollachi, and the member of Legislative Assembly Dr. Pollachi V. Jayaraman, they immediately agreed that they will be present to dedicate this facility to the public.
This facility and its success solely depend upon the continuous funding and a corpus that will help the poor and marginalized people to get the Dialysis done thrice a week.
The Pollachi Rotary Club Trust will play its part and offer its helping hands to the poor to get this service totally free. And those who can afford to pay can use this service and by using this service they will be cross-subsidising for those who cannot afford it.
With great pride, we dedicate this project to the public of Pollachi on the 28th of June 2021.
