Two clubs donate 14 dialysis units in Bengaluru

During the Covid lockdown, two Rotary clubs in Bengaluru have joined hands to donate 14 dialysis machines to the Bangalore Kidney Foundation (BKF) at the newly-constructed block on the premises of the Rangadore Memorial Hospital. “PDG Sameer Hariani was supposed to inaugurate the new facility on March 14, but due to pandemic restrictions we have postponed the opening ceremony to a later date. All the machines are fully operational now for kidney patients,” says global grant chair U B Shankar from Rotary Bangalore Northwest, RID 3190. The GG project worth Rs 91 lakh has been done with support from RC Fort Collins Breakfast, RID 5440, Colorado, US.

BKF is providing dialysis to patients suffering from renal failure at many hospitals in Bengaluru for quite some time and its founder-chairman Dr P Sriram, a Rotarian from Rotary Southwest, cemented the partnership between the two clubs in this project. The new BKF block already had 50 machines, “but they needed some more, and we provided 14 machines, ” says Shankar. The club has a goal to provide 100 machines in all over the next two years, as there is growing demand from kidney patients.

We have done 14 GG projects with
our global partner, RC Fort Collins
Breakfast, in over two decades.

U B Shankar
global grant chair
RC Bangalore Northwest, RID 3190.

While well-to-do patients pay ₹1,500-2,000 a session, those from low-income families are charged ₹600 and dialysis is free for BPL patients, who are also given food or foodgrains.

“We have done 14 GG projects with our global partner, RC Fort Collins Breakfast, in over two decades,” says Shankar. The local community in Basavanagudi is greatly benefitted by this dialysis centre, especially during Covid restrictions, adds KT Suresh, IPP, Rotary Northwest.