Manila to offer free dialysis treatments

MANILA, Philippines - The Manila city government will inaugurate its new dialysis center at the Gat Andres Memorial Medical Center in Delpan on Dec. 15, Mayor Joseph Estrada said yesterday.   

The center has 100 dialysis machines, which “will be free for all the poor Manileños… That is my pet project,” Estrada told The STAR.

He said that during his term as president, the Office of the President had only four machines. “Patients came to Malacañang everyday” for free treatment, he added.

Estrada said that patients who cannot afford to undergo dialysis twice or thrice a week – at P1,600 per session – had no choice but to wait for death.

He said while the use of the machines is free for all residents of Manila, those who are not residents will have to pay. The machines were donated by foreign groups, he said.