New RCB Dialysis Centre Inaugurated
2.2 lakh Indians get End-Stage Renal Disease (ESRD) every year, resulting in an additional demand for 3.4 crore dialysis annually. With approximately 5000 dialysis centres, largely in the private sector, the demand is less than half met. Since every dialysis has an additional expenditure tag of about Rs. 1000-2000, the annual expenditure for patients is Rs.2- 4 lakhs. Due to lack of funds and of dialysis centres, patients succumb to this illness.
Rotary Club of Bombay began its journey with dialysis centres during Covid and presently runs 6 such centres benefitting nearly 1000 lives a month.
The journey of Lifeline Rotary Ashok Sushila Mahansaria Dialysis Centre began with Rtn. Yogesh Mahasanria sharing his keen interest in starting a dialysis centre dedicated to his parents. He promptly donated the funds for setting up a 15-bed centre for which we are very grateful. His belief in providing relief to the already suffering dialysis patients resonated with RCB’s endeavours. But then began the arduous task of identifying the best location with the
most capable team to run the same. With the help of our Rotarians, we identified Lifeline Hospital Charkop for this
project. Dr. Anirudh Ambekar was also swift to respond and, by mid-March, we visited the hospital and found that it met Rotary International’s stringent requirements. The Global Grant to match our contribution came about in the second week of September and here we are in November, inaugurating the centre.
This centre was established under Global Grant #2126537 of The Rotary Foundation in partnership with Rotary Club of Mumbai North End & Global partner Rotary Club of Charlotte Hall Dist.7620. It is a fine example of how the Global
Grant can increase the donation value and how multiple clubs can jointly work together to make a project successful.
This centre of 15 machines will be capable of conducting over 45 cycles daily i.e. over 1000 dialysis per month impacting over 100 patients. Dialysis will be done free of charge for Rotarian referrals and at a nominal rate of Rs 300 for others. Once the MPJAY scheme kicks in, all dialysis will be provided free of cost.
At the well organised function at Lifeline Hospital Charkop, were several Rotary stalwarts such as DG Sandip Agarwalla, RCB’s President Vineet Bhatnagar, Rotary Mumbai North End’s President Leela Jaya, our sponsors Rtn. Yogesh Mahansaria, Dr. Aniruddha Ambekar, and Dr Shilpa Ambekar, CEO of Lifeline Hospital.
