La Loma Luz Adventist Hospital in San Ignacio, Cayo, has received its first three hemodialysis patients to coincide with the official launch of the Jose Cruz Memorial Dialysis Unit, one of two public sector units in the country and the first public units to be opened in the nation’s history.
The San Ignacio unit is named after Jose Cruz, the advocate and dialysis patient who passed away last December and whose idea it was to bring the program, co-funded by World Organization for Renal Therapies (WORTH), to Belize. Hospital management and staff agreed to the dedication in his honor.
At last year’s signing of the memorandum of understanding for the dialysis program, Grant McPherson, administrator of LLLAH, called Cruz a hero for his activism. He expressed regret today that Cruz passed before the opening of the unit.
McPherson said that he wants success for both the program and the patients. He explained that whereas the current budget only allows for 16 patients to be treated at each of the two units on a single shift basis, the number of patients could increase if the units are run for another shift or for a full 24 hours.
The launch of the Loma Luz center was held on Friday, February 4, 2011, the same day that the center at the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital (KHMH) in Belize City, which has been caring for 11 patients, was also declared officially opened.
Mileni Cruz, the widow of Jose Cruz, told Amandala that she did not receive an invitation to the launch of the program on Friday morning. We understand from our sources that a late call was made to Mrs. Cruz to attend the Loma Luz opening, which would serve patients from the south and west of Belize.
The transfer of government-funded patients from the Belize Healthcare Partners Limited, a private facility which introduced dialysis treatment in Belize, began in 2010; however, Director of Health Service Dr. Michael Pitts, told Amandala that it has to be a gradual process. According to McPherson, two patients at the KHMH are pending transfer to Loma Luz.
Asked if the new program would mean greater life expectancy for dialysis patients, Pitts said he would not want to declare a position. He said only that since the patients have been transferred over to the KHMH unit, their “metrics,” such as their potassium levels, have improved.
Expectancy depends on the condition that the patients are in when they enter the program, said Pitts.
Cruz had told Amandala last year that he was the longest surviving patient on dialysis under the government-subsidized program, having exceeded four years. According to Pitts, most patients were dying sooner, after about two to two and a half years.
There are a dozen patients to transfer to the public facilities, according to Pitts.
Patients are asked to make a co-payment of $15 to $80 per session, based on what they can afford.