The Social, Arts and Culture Committee met with Mr Andrew Ng and Mr. Wong Chee Kong of the Persatuan Dialisis Touch Petaling Jaya, Selangor ("PDT") at Kota Damansara, 26 & 28 Jalan PJU 5/16 Dataran Sunway (“Centre”) on Saturday,13 December 2008 at 10.30am to present a cheque of RM8,800.00 from the proceeds of the LexisNexis-KL Bar Treasure Hunt 2008.
The Centre was established by PDT, a non-govermental organisation registered with the Registrar of Society. Its purpose is to support the Malaysian Government’s call to set up more dialysis centres to cater to the increasing number of kidney failure patients. Haemodialysis is currently the most effective treatment to keep patients with failed kidneys alive until they can receive a kidney transplant.
The Centre has the capacity to treat 60 patients and is equipped with modern facilities to serve patients with separate treatment rooms for Hepatitis B and C patients. The Centre also offers free consultations of a nephrologist and free basic blood tests. The first patient intake was on 1st December 2007.
Patients undergo 4 hour treatments, 3 times a week. Each treatment usually costs RM110, but PDT help patients to apply for a RM50 government subsidy per treatment, thereby patients only have to pay RM60 per treatment. The poverty-stricken who have difficulty paying the minimum RM60 treatment cost are aided through a special sponsorship programme to ensure that they can get the treatment they need.
PDT needs sufficient funds to maintain its long term operations and aims to establish a trust fund of RM2,000,000 where donations of any amount can be made on a regular basis or as a one-time contribution. PDT also invites sponsorship of part of the dialysis cost and subsidy of RM5,000 per year for one (1) patient.
The Centre is non-profit in nature and depends heavily on contributions from Malaysian corporate bodies and the general public to fund their efforts.
By Lai Chee Hoe