Brazilian Health Ministry invests BRL 58.9 million to expand, qualify, & improve nephrology services

 

The ministry of Health, Brazil has approved a grant of BRL 58.9 million for expansion, qualifying, and improvement of nephrology services offered to chronic renal failure patients at different stages, through the Unified Health System (SUS) in Brazil. Among the major services offered for treatment of patients are hemodialysis, peritoneal dialysis, and transplants. Currently, there are 700 organizations in the country, which are authorized to offer kidney treatments for public health. In all, 50 new services have been enabled over 2010-2015. At present, the numbers of dialysis machines available under the SUS are 19,601, an increase of 26.5% as compared to 2010, when there were 15,494 equipments. Of the 19,601 machines, 18,820 are meant to be used exclusively to treat chronic kidney diseases and the rest are used for acute treatment. In the past five years, the Federal Government’s funds towards nephrology services grew 44.3% in Brazil, from BRL 1.9 billion to BRL 2.8 billion.