THE number of hemodialysis machines at Shenzhen Cihai Hospital will reach 100 in the next three years, the Shenzhen Special Zone Daily reported, quoting officials at the Longgang hospital.

According to the hospital, it recently opened a nephrology department where 26 hemodialysis machines are being used. Another 15 machines will also be installed very soon.

The nephrology department has introduced three senior renal physicians and set up 45 beds. Additionally, the hemodialysis center plans to offer dialysis services after 11 p.m. to facilitate care for more patients.

It has been reported that aside from allograft renal transplantation, the most effective treatments for uremia at present include hemodialysis and peritoneal dialysis. In China, there are currently more than 1 million uremia patients but only about 500,000 of them receive hemodialysis.

By the end of 2017, a total of 5,034 patients had undergone dialysis in Shenzhen hospitals, of which 3,848 received hemodialysis and 1,186 had peritoneal dialysis.

Meanwhile, the number of patients who need dialysis is increasing by about 20 percent each year, and Shenzhen has only 1,090 hemodialysis machines that are being overworked.

Chen Xiaobo, director of the nephrology department at the hospital, advises patients to have peritoneal dialysis. On the one hand, the dialysis can be performed at home, which will reduce the pressure on the hemodialysis machines at hospitals. On the other hand, initially having peritoneal dialysis and then later having hemodialysis helps prolong patients’ lives.

(Zhang Yu)