Renal dialysis is set to be provided at Murwillumbah District Hospital (MDH) after NSW Health announced $400,000 funding to provide a six-chair satellite renal dialysis unit onsite.
It will be a satellite service of the Tweed Byron Health Service Group Renal Dialysis Service, which currently provides in-centre and home-based renal dialysis services to the residents of Tweed, Byron the southern Gold Coast.
Lismore MP Thomas George said the $400,000 funding ‘will enable the establishment of a six-chair Renal Dialysis Unit at MDH to provide in-centre haemodialysis to patients with stable, dialysis-dependent kidney disease.’
Northern NSW Local Health District CEO Wayne Jones said the announcement was ‘great news for those local renal dialysis patients who currently travel to the Tweed Hospital for treatment.’
‘Once completed, a local dialysis unit at MDH will give back a huge amount of time to these patients that I am sure they will welcome,’ Mr Jones said.
‘The Tweed Valley population growth and the growing ageing population, combined with the significant Aboriginal population, have all contributed to an increasing prevalence of chronic kidney disease in the region which supports the development of the satellite renal dialysis service at MDH.’