CHAKWAL, Sept 17: Although the Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif claimed credit for starting a “Dialysis Programme” in all district headquarters (DHQ) hospitals, patients suffering from kidney problems have been left high and dry as funds to run these dialysis centres have not been released in the current fiscal year.

The dialysis machines installed at the DHQ hospitals are working, but patients are forced to buy ‘dialyser sets’ and ‘solutions’ from the market since the hospitals’ cannot afford these.

It costs one patient roughly Rs3,000 to buy a dialyser set and solution from the market, and a kidney patient has to buy these twice a week.

Four dialysis machines, each costing Rs800,000, were installed at every district headquarters hospital throughout the province in 2008 when Mr Sharif revived his dialysis programme.

In Chakwal, nine dialysis machines are operational as five of these were provided by local philanthropists.

However, the Dialysis Centre at DHQ Hospital Chakwal, which used to be thronged by kidney patients three months ago, currently presents a deserted look.

“A few months ago, 17 to 20 patients used to be on the waiting list but now no patient is waiting because we lack dialyser sets and solutions,” an official in the health department said.

Currently, there are only two kidney patients being dialysed at the hospital and seven beds remain vacant as patients have stopped visiting the hospital.

“I am already living from hand to mouth, and the extra expense of Rs6,000 a week added to my miseries,” moaned Mirza Irfan Ashraf, a kidney patient at DHQ Hospital Chakwal.

Furthermore, the Chakwal Hospital owes Rs15 million to various medicine companies and the amount has not been paid for the past 18 months due to shortage of funds.

Therefore, many important medicines are not available at the hospital and patients are forced to buy these from the market.

The government has also failed to provide vaccines for rabies and snake venom.

When contacted, Dr Mohammad Hassan, in-charge of the dialysis centre, said, “We have all the equipment except dialyses sets and solutions which we cannot afford due to unavailability of funds.”

When contacted, Medical Superintendent Dr Ahsan Naveed told Dawn that several letters had been written to the higher authorities to fix the problem but in vain.

“Provision of funds for the dialysis centres is the provincial government’s duty as the programme is directly under its control. The district administration has nothing to do with it” he added.