KUCHING: A total of 72 patients at the National Kidney Foundation (NKF) Kota Samarahan Haemodialysis Centre will stand to benefit from the RM40,000 haemodialysis machine contributed by OCBC Bank Kuching branch.
The collaborative effort with the Rotary Club of Kuching (RCK) and Kidney Association Sarawak (KAS) helped to round off the 12 machines needed by the centre to operate optimally.
Local Government and Housing Minister Datuk Seri Dr Sim Kui Hian commended such effort in setting up the facility for kidney patients, enabling them to have access to dialysis treatments near to their homes.
“With the 12 machines in NKF’s centre in Kota Samarahan, they will be able to accommodate 72 patients. In other words, you are giving the kidney patients a chance to live.
“On the state government’s part through the Ministry of Welfare, Community Wellbeing, Women, Family and Childhood Development, we have allocated RM30,785,584 in special aid for kidney patients in the state over a five-year period (2020-2024).
“However, the state government acts as the last line so that no Sarawakian will die of kidney failure just because they cannot afford dialysis treatment.
“What’s more important is that we all work together to help the patients,” he said during the handing over of donation cheques to NKF at NKF-KAS-Rotary dialysis centre in Jalan Tun Ahmad Zaidi Adruce here today.
Following that, the general public are invited to join in the awareness campaign by donating or allocating some time to help the organisation with any projects in the future.
For the record, the first NKF centre in Kuching has 18 haemodialysis machines. There are currently 158 people on the waiting list.
Meanwhile, the second centre in Kota Samarahan is in the final stages of approval by the state Fire and Rescue Department and Ministry of Health (MoH) and should be fully operational next year.
