ABOUT FOUR patients are starting dialysis treatment every month and the head of the Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QEH) has warned that rising costs may force the hospital to introduce fees.
QEH chief executive officer Dr Dexter James said yesterday that Government spent about $14 million to care for the 171 kidney patients, adding it was a “tremendous burden” on the hospital’s budget.
James said that while the QEH undertook the entire cost for the patients who were treated there, were outsourced to private institutions or used their own peritoneal dialysis system at home, those days might be numbered.
“Part of reducing the burden to us is taking personal responsibility for your health care,”?he said
