Barbados Kidney Association Project

Barbados Kidney Association – AKU Project – November 2018

Donation of Equipment to Artificial Kidney Unit – QEH

Project Goals:

Replace 10 out of the existing 22 dialysis chairs in the Dialysis Unit at the QEH and other equipment.

With the rise in non-communicable diseases (i.e. Chronic diseases not caused by infection and which are not passed from person to person) – such as cardiovascular diseases – stroke and heart attack, cancers, diabetes, hypertension and asthma to name a few, lifestyles cultural and acquired, there is a rise in chronic renal disease/end stage renal disease which require treatment options or transplantation or dialysis. Both these options are a tremendous cost to the government of Barbados. Dialysis is estimated at an average cost of four hundred and fifty dollars per treatment with the ideal preference of three treatment at three to four hours per week.

Transplantation, although not requiring interventions involving the use of the dialysis machine, requires anti-rejection therapies for the remainder of the patient’s life at a cost to the provider.

About the Barbados Kidney Association

The Kidney Association is embarking on a program, in collaboration with four doctors, providing care and counsel with the expectation that we can prevent the advancement of renal disease and by extension enhance and maintain the health of our citizens, therefore eliminating the need for dialysis and transplantation. The goal of the association is to reduce significantly the number of persons with a potential for renal disease advancing to end stage renal disease and requiring dialysis and transplantation and to maintain health and wellness among the citizens.