JEDDAH – Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah has approved the allocation of more than SR400 million every year for a healthcare project for kidney patients all over the Kingdom. The project is sponsored by the King Abdullah Bin Abdul Aziz Foundation for Charity and Humanitarian Work. King Abdullah is the Chairman of the Board of Trustees. The approval reflects the Monarch's generous and humanitarian gesture seeking to provide kidney patients around the Kingdom with free healthcare services. The project will be run by top-notch medical, technical, and administrative teams. It will have a capacity to provide services to 3,350 patients at present and 5,000 in the future. According to the Prince Salman Center for Kidneys there are 14,000 final renal patients in the Kingdom who are dependent on renal technology. Patients who suffer from kidney failure spend up to 15 hours a week receiving dialysis, which is the most common method of treatment used by doctors to treat advanced kidney failure. Patients receive the treatment at a dialysis center where their blood is pumped through a machine. A filter removes harmful toxins, extra salts and other fluids. The Kingdom has 124 dialysis centers and kidney failure patients represent 78 percent of all patients receiving treatment at Ministry of Health hospitals. The number of kidney transplant operations performed from living kidney donors were 4,862 while 2,329 operations were performed from brain-dead donors. There are currently 7,000 patients awaiting a kidney transplant from 13,356 patients who are on dialysis. – SG/SPA
