A DIALYSIS clinic recently opened in a Mandaue City mall, as part of efforts to make hemodialysis services more convenient and more accessible to patients.
The American Nephrology Care and Services Corp. (ANCSC) opened a US-standard dialysis center on the ground floor of Bridges
Town Square, Plaridel St. in Mandaue.
ANCSC, in a press statement, said it capitalizes on being the first clinic that uses the US standard of a single-use dialyzer.
According to Ryan Alicaya, one of ANCSC’s business partners, the market for dialysis centers in the Philippines has not reached its saturation point because more people are diagnosed with diabetes and hypertension and require hemodialysis.
The Department of Health has said that close to 23,000 Filipinos underwent dialysis due to kidney failure in 2013, nearly four times higher than the 4,000 cases recorded in 2004, or a 10 to 15 percent increase a year.
“What we are bringing new to the market is that we follow the Texas guidelines in running dialysis clinics, which is one of the strictest guidelines in the whole of continental US,” said Alicaya.
According to the DOH, a lethargic lifestyle, wrong food choices and inadequate sleep are key factors leading to diabetes and hypertension that could result in kidney disease, the country’s seventh leading cause of death.
No recycling of dialyzers
The dialysis center occupies a 400-square-meter space, with 12 dialysis machines that can serve a total of 72 patients per day.
The clinic is open from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m.
Mar Pidlaoan, who is also one of ANCSC’S business partners and director of Dialysis Services at the Harris County Hospital District in Houston, Texas, observed that most dialysis clinics in Cebu re-process the dialyzers, which lessens its effectivity.
“In the US, we do not recycle the dialyzer. Once it is used, we dispose of it immediately,” he said.
Among the benefits of a single-use OptifluxDialyzer are that it ensures 100 percent removal of extra fluids and wastes in the body; provides optimal hemodialysis results; and prevents exposing patients to harsh disinfectants in the dialyzer.
A single dialysis session of three to four hours costs P3,500, inclusive of physician’s fee, Highflux Dialyzer and hemodialysis consumables.
The clinic also has a conference room where the doctors educate the patients on their dialysis progress.
“We don’t just stop at being a dialysis center. We take a holistic approach to the general well-being of our patients, that’s why we educate them on proper dietary regimen, including their emotional and psychosocial well-being,” said Pidlaoan.