Bengaluru: People choose different paths and are motivated differently to bring about changes in society. Some are moved by bad educational infrastructure, while others find their calling in helping the underprivileged. But for this city doctor, it was all about the needy being unable to afford life-saving treatments. In a country which has over two lakh patients with severe kidney failure and close to 20 lakh with mild and moderate kidney diseases, only 5-10% can afford any kind of treatment, while the rest succumb to it. The disturbing statistic was enough for Dr Sudarshan Ballal to start a trust with donations from family, friends and well-wishers to address the problem.
“When I came back from the UK, it was extremely sad for me to see poor patients in need of dialysis not being able to afford it. There are patients who can live forever if they are given dialysis for 10-15 days continuously. In the US it is free, but here it is not,”says Dr Ballal, Chairman, Manipal Hospitals.
Moved by the plight of the poor, he formed the trust in his father's name, Belanje Sanjeeva Hegde, some 15 years ago. Since then, it has been conducting over a thousand free dialyses every year and one free transplant a month in memory of three-year-old Yatharth. The child was declared brain dead at Manipal Hospital and his parents took the bold decision of donating his organs.
“Our goal has always been revolving around three main points helping patients with kidney diseases, spreading awareness and holding awareness and screening camps,” says Dr Ballal, whose trust in association with Manipal University has provided subsidised insurance schemes for the rural poor around Manipal University.
The Trust’s endeavour is to facilitate subsidised kidney transplants and has been regularly performing kidney transplants at 50% of the cost. The trust also helps the needy with subsidised medicines, dialysis procedures, transplantations and other treatments at the hospital. "It is but a drop in the ocean considering the large number of kidney diseases. Some 2-3 camps are conducted every year where the public is made aware of preventive measures,” he says.
With the help of donations made by several well-wishers, the dialysis centre was expanded and five more machines were added. One of the machines has been dedicated to hepatitis B patients. The entire unit performs around 2,500 subsidised haemodialysis per year.
The trust is now being funded by a few philanthropists. “Funding continues to be a problem. But when people hear about the Trust, they want to participate and pool in. Once we get more funding, we might expand. But currently, we want to keep it the way it is,” he sums up.
