Poor kidney patient saroja for medical aid

We identified a patient from Batticaloa by the name of Mrs. Saroja Devi (Age - 45 years). She is currently suffering from End-stage renal disease on chronic dialysis (for 1.5 years and both kidneys are failing)

Family situation - Single mother of two daughters (14 and 17). There is no income for the family. People in the village help and the younger daughter stay with the grandmother. The elder child had stopped education due to her illness. The other goes to school this year with the help of the hospital staff to buy books. They barely have money to get to the hospital or provide for food as per the hospital staff and the doctors. We validated all details with our volunteers and it is true and they were desperately seeking help.

As per the consultant, we could help them by purchasing Whey protein for the patient during dialysis. Whey protein isolate helps maintain the high protein intake that is needed for dialysis. The prescribed amount is 40g per day. (1kg costs about Rs. 12,000). Usually, doctors do not recommend it to poor patients because they are not able to afford it but she needs it due to her chronic dialysis to survive and gain energy to go through the treatment.

And the other aspect is cover for the transportation costs. Saroja travels from a village about 1 hour south of the hospital. Since there are no buses to bring her back and forth, each visit costs 2000 rupees and they have to visit the hospital for dialysis twice a week.

Since we transferred the funds, the patient has not been able to leave the hospital due to the allergies that she has developed. We have been keeping close contact with the hospital staff and the volunteer has been checking. Yesterday after another visit to Kandy hospital for a minor surgery she has been discharged for the weekend and to be back at the hospital on Monday. During her stay in the hospital, she gets the required medication and supplements and therefore they will purchase the medication once back at home.