The Department of Nephrology now has four haemodiafiltration machines worth ₹48 lakhs.
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Jipmer has undertaken a significant upgrade of the emergency and inpatient haemodialysis services offered by its Department of Nephrology.
Rakesh Aggarwal, Jipmer director, said the ₹2.04 crore upgrade included the addition of a state-of-the-art automated, dual-stage reverse osmosis water treatment plant with a facility for heat disinfection, which provides ‘ultrapure water’ for dialysis treatment.
In addition, the department now has four haemodiafiltration machines worth ₹48 lakhs. This will allow the facility to offer a new advanced dialysis modality known as Online Haemodiafiltration, which improves the long-term survival rate of patients on regular dialysis treatment. It is also useful in treating patients with sepsis-related acute kidney injury.
Jipmer is the only institution in Puducherry and the first government institution in the southern part of India with facilities for online haemodiafiltration using ultrapure water, a press note said.
Earlier, S. Selvaganabathy, Rajya Sabha MP, unveiled the inaugural plaque and delivered an address. L.N. Dorairajan, Medical Superintendent, and Sreejith Parameswaran, Professor and Head, Department of Nephrology, also spoke.
Since 2012, when it began kidney transplantation services, Jipmer has performed 320 kidney transplants to date, including 47 in 2023. Many of these are covered under the Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (ABPMJAY) and the Prime Minister’s National Relief Fund (PMNRF).
In 2023, Jipmer started kidney transplantation across the blood group barrier called ‘ABO Incompatible kidney transplantation’. This allows a person to receive kidney from a donor with a mis-matched blood group. In the last five months, three such transplants have been done.
Jipmer has been running a deceased donor organ transplantation program since 2013. So far, organs and tissues have been procured from 51 deceased donors. Of the 320 kidney transplants at Jipmer, 104 were from deceased donors.
In recent months, the number of faculty members has increased from 3 to 5, and the number of DM trainees from six to eight, the press note said.