Mohammad Amin Wani, alias Sahba, who turned 34 last month is suffering from renal or kidney failure for last few years and is dependent on dialysis, which he has to undergo twice every week.
Amin resides alone in a two-room ramshackle house in Nathpora village of Bandipora and he has nobody to take his care except a neighbour. The neighbour, Ghulam Muhammad Baba, bears all the expenses including dialysis costs of Amin.
What is more disappointing for Amin is that he has to travel long distances to undergo dialysis as there is no dialysis machine available in the district hospital Bandipora.
Amin says he has to go to Sopore for dialysis and every dialysis costs him Rs 1600. “Had Ghulam Muhammad Baba not been there I would have died for I don’t have any source of income and I cannot afford to pay my dialysis expenses.”
According to Amin, it is his neighbour Baba who pays for his dialysis as also his travel expenses. “Travelling long distances twice a week puts me through immense hardships and pain as I am not able to walk due to renal failure, ” Amin says.
He says, “I would have not to travel long distances had there been a dialysis machine at the district hospital Bandipora. We have many times told the concerned authorities to install the machine in the hospital but till date, they have failed to do so.”
Another renal failure patient, Ghulam Nabi Shah from Shah Mohalla Kaloosa is facing same hardships. He incurs about Rs 2 lakh expenses on dialysis every year.
Shah who is bedridden for last five years after being diagnosed with renal failure is completely dependent on dialysis, which he has to undergo twice a week.
His daughter, Jamsheeda who is herself suffering from an ailment says that her father could not get a kidney donor as none from among the family matched him.
“From last two years my father is on dialysis and we have to visit Sopore hospital to get it done twice a week. Each dialysis costs around Rs 2600 besides other expenses including travel cost. We do not have dialysis facility in DH Bandipora which forces us to visit Sopore hospital. We have been financially drained as we have a meagre source of income,” Jamsheeda says.
There are around 17 registered patients in block Bandipora like Amin and Shah, suffering from renal failure and are dependent on dialysis.
Pertinently, MLC Nayeem Akhter had released 20 lakh from his CDF for installation of dialysis machine at DH Bandipora a month ago but the machine is yet to be installed, thereby forcing patients to visit either Srinagar or Sopore hospitals for dialysis.