Health Minister assures no patient going without dialysis

Health Minister Terrence Deyalsingh yesterday declared, “No patient is going without dialysis.” Deyalsingh made this declaration in response to a decision by the St Clair Medical Centre (MedCorp Limited) to stop patients receiving government-subsidised dialysis treatment at the centre. The treatment was stopped because the Government had not been paying a subsidy.

After saying this debt would be paid, Deyalsingh said Government would be moving swiftly “to lessen the State’s dependence on the private sector for the provision of dialysis.”

Responding to a question in the House of Representatives, Deyalsingh said MedCorp was owed approximately $1.2 million. He said the total amount owed to all dialysis centres in TT is $16.6 million and part of this will be paid off in the next week.

He said the payment to MedCorp will be $400,000, and that MedCorp’s decision surprised the Government because, “We have done $30 million of business with MedCorp from 2014 to now.” Deyalsingh said this included $7.5 million for dialysis, $20.6 million for radiotherapy services and $576,000 for other surgical procedures. He said those figures did not include $65.1 million paid for a heart operation, part of which went to MedCorp while another part went to the Eric Williams Medical Sciences Complex in Mt Hope.

Deyalsingh said all Medcorp’s patients had been sent to the other nine dialysis centres, which “are in total sympathy with us and they will not be taking any action to stop services.”

Government MPs thumped their desks as Deyalsingh said, “That is the kind of patriotism that is needed in the country now.”

He said the North-West Regional Health Authority (NWRHA) and the South West Regional Health Authority (SWRHA) will be increasing the number of dialysis chairs they have. In the case of the NWRHA, Deyalsingh said five more chairs would come online in 2018 and the number at SWRHA would increase from four to 15.

Deyalsingh said there were 145 dialysis chairs in the private health sector while the public health sector had 55.

Deyalsingh said the MedCorp situation had “concretised” in his mind that the public sector should do more in terms of dialysis treatment. “Millions of dollars in subsidies have been spent in the private sector,” he said.