DIALYSIS patients in the Northern Division will soon be able to use a fully operational dialysis centre scheduled to open next month, says Ministry of Health media liaison officer Sunil Chand.

Dialysis patients are being catered for within the Labasa Hospital at a temporary location with space constraints.

Patients in the North will benefit from the centre as this will prove to be time and cost efficient instead of travelling to Suva for the treatment.

Kidney Foundation of Fiji nursing manager Saten Sharma said, "In the West, North and Central Division, there are a few patients who are still with us. Patients who come to Suva say that the Labasa centre doesn't have the equipment provided in Suva."

Mr Sharma explained that Labasa needed to extend its facilities. "You can't run a place with only two dialysis machines in Labasa," he said.

He explained that each patient needed to use the dialysis machine for four to five hours a day and if the Labasa centre was going to cater for the patients, they needed to have the proper equipment and less than ten dialysis machines.

Assistant Minister for Health and Medical Services Veena Bhatnagar said they were grateful for the private public partnership which complemented the ministry's work.

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