Vadnagar: Health Minister Shri Rushikeshbhai Patel dedicated 31 dialysis centres under Gujarat Dialysis Programme, managed by Institute of Kidney Diseases & Research Centre (IKDRC), to public in a virtual ceremony held from Vadnagar town in North Gujarat.

GDP centres commissioned on Tuesday were built at the cost of Rs 16 crores to serve thousands of dialysis patients in various parts of the state.

Minister of state for Health Smt Nimishaben Suthar also joined the ceremony simultaneously from Devgadhbaria in Dahod district to witness the momentous occasion.

Patel interacted online with dialysis patients from Gotri, Devgadhbaria and Vadnagar GDP centres to gauge the quality of dialysis facilities available at GDP centres. During his interaction Patel informed that vision espoused by Honourable Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi in 2010 as Chief Minister of Gujarat has grown into a network of GDP centres offering quality dialysis at zero cost for the patients.

“Anywhere anytime facility available in Gujarat will be also be replicated and implemented across India with support of respective state governments”, said Patel while speaking on the occasion in Vadnagar.

“GDP is the largest governmental network of dialysis centres in the world and we are committed to offer free of cost dialysis services to every person in need of renal care in the state,” Dr Vineet Mishra, Director, IKDRC-ITS said on the sidelines of the event adding that more number of GDP centres are in offing to make dialysis accessible to all.

Fairfax India Charitable Foundation has donated 96 dialysis machines at GDP centres so far under Prime Mantri National Dialysis Programme.

GDP has transformed lives of thousands of patients in need of renal care in Gujarat since 2010. With a staff strength of 500 technicians including ancillary staff trained by IKDRC, a network of 68 GDP centres offer high-quality dialysis at no cost to visiting patients irrespective of their socio-economic background.

All dialysis sessions are centrally monitored through CCTV and a central server to generate data reports for evaluation at three different levels to ensure better treatment outcomes for every patient. The concept of single-use dialyzer and blood tubing for every dialysis procedure has positioned Gujarat as the first state in the country to follow international standards to offer high quality dialysis. BPL patients are also reimbursed travel charges for every visit they made to GDP centres.

Gujarat Dialysis Programme (GDP) is IKDRC’s flagship programme under the aegis of Government of Gujarat to provide free dialysis to ESRD patients in the state. IKDRC shoulders its responsibility to provide trained manpower, consumables, maintenance, nephrologist and fistula surgeon to ESRD patients. Provisions to allocate space at district hospitals, sub-district hospitals, medical colleges and GMERS medical colleges to run GDP centres is done through Government of Gujarat.