Chapala’s municipal government and the association Go Health Mx will pay two-thirds of the treatment of patients in the municipality.
Front of the new dialysis clinic at 303 Hidalgo Avenue in Chapala. Photo: Jazmín Stengel
Jazmín Stengel (Chapala).- Go Health Mx Foundation installed a specialized dialysis clinic for people suffering from Chronic Renal Insufficiency, or CKD, in the municipality of Chapala. Hemodialysis patients must often have the treatments for life so the new facility ends the need for weekly drives to Guadalajara for treatment.The facility opened Monday, May 2 at 303 Hidalgo Avenue with the capacity to perform 2,800 treatments per year. This could save money and time for kidney patients in the Chapala area, which is one of the places in the world with the highest incidence of kidney disease. Industrial pollution in rivers and creeks in the greater Chapala and Santiago aquifers has been cited as a possible cause, as well as the agrochemicals and pesticides used on local farms, according to 2017 research by University of Guadalajara and the National Institute of Public Health.
Although world statistics show that one in 10 people suffer from kidney failure, on the shores of Lake Chapala the average rises to three out of every 10 inhabitants. The most affected communities are near the Santiago River basin, such as Mezcala, San Pedro Itzicán, San Juan Tecomatlán, Agua Caliente, and others. The local location will save time and travel expenses so patients no longer have to go to Guadalajara. Another advantage is the lower cost, 1,250 pesos per treatment, with expenses to be paid by the civil association, the Government of Chapala and the patient in equal parts of the total, equalling 416 pesos each.
Chapala municipal president Alejandro de Jesús Aguirre Curie, promised this to citizens of the municipality. However, although the unit has been inaugurated, the collaboration agreement contract with the Go Health Mx foundation is not yet ready. Those interested from other municipalities will go through a socioeconomic examination to evaluate the percentage of help that the foundation can offer.
Registration takes place at the hospital’s reception desk, which is open from 8 am to 5 pm on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. It is expected that the hospital will soon keep its doors open all week. Days of service will increase according to demand.
Annual dialysis costs can reach up to 260,000 pesos (about US$13,000) per person, taking into account 1.2 treatments of three hours per week, according to 2019 data from the Mexican Institute of Social Security. It is best to have a kidney transplant in the first two years after initial diagnosis, before it becomes chronic. However, there are not enough kidneys available in Mexican organ donation banks.
Today in the municipality of Chapala there are 1,026 officially registered cases of kidney failure, and there are probably more. The clinic’s staff intends to rely on the municipal medical services to help identify those patients who have not yet been officially diagnosed. Aguirre Curiel promised to implement a laboratory where patients can perform their monthly tests at low cost. He also promised to start a series of agreements with private hospitals in the area so low-income patients can also be treated.
In Jalisco, “the numbers are stark,” said Ángela María Soto Cruz, a nephrology specialist at the new clinic. In 2019 the state was listed as having the most cases of kidney failure registered internationally, surpassing some countries, with almost 7,000 cases as of the last census, more than 10 percent of the entire country.
This worried nephrology specialists, since many of these cases were detected in children, young people and adolescents who at a young age are already dependent on dialysis machines. According to studies by the University of Guadalajara in 2019, 51.4 percent of the cases in the state ended in death.
Dialysis and hemodialysis treatments consist of connecting the patient intravenously to a machine that acts as an artificial kidney. The machine cleans the blood from the kidneys by mixing it with completely purified water. The facilities in Chapala also have the proper chemical and carbon filters, as well as an ultraviolet light to eliminate all the microparticles that can harm the patient.
Translated by Mike Rogers
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