Don’t Fear the Filter

You never know how strong you are until being strong is the only choice. It takes great strength to live a life on a machine and especially on a dialysis machine since it not only flushes toxins from your body but it also flushes the self-pity out of your system. Dialysis allows people with kidney failure (renal failure) a chance to live productive life. It is a treatment that filters and purifies the blood to maintain the balance of your body fluids.

Kidney performs many important functions in our body:

• The vital role of the kidney is to remove the liquid metabolic waste from our body through the process of excretion. 
• It regulates the electrolytes in our body such as sodium, potassium, calcium and phosphorous. 
• Kidneys produce an active form of Vitamin D that promotes strong healthy bones.
• It also levels out our blood pressure. 
• They release the hormone that makes red blood cells

Since kidney plays such an essential role in our body hence when your kidney fails to execute its functions, a machine substitutes your kidney’s function and performs dialysis. There are two main types of dialysis. Both types filter your blood to rid your body of harmful wastes, extra salt, and water.

• Hemodialysis uses an external machine and a special type of filter to remove excess waste products and water from the blood.
• Peritoneal dialysis uses a fluid that is placed into the patient's abdominal cavity through a plastic tube (peritoneal dialysis catheter) to remove excess waste products and fluid from the body.

The Hemodialysis machine uses ultrapure water during the dialysis treatment. The dialysate is a cleansing solution which is a mixture of water and chemicals that pulls the wastes and extra fluid out of your blood, if the water used to make the dialysate is not completely pure, impurities from the water in the dialysate can get into your blood. For the process of purification of water, a portable reverse osmosis (RO) system is used with a dialysis machine. The reverse osmosis (RO) system uses a pump to push water through a semi-permeable membrane or filter which removes almost all of the contaminants including bacteria and viruses. The RO machine produces product water. The product water is the ultrapure water which enters the hemodialysis machine and is used to mix the dialysate for your dialysis treatment.

PAF’s motto is to turn tears into cheers; therefore, the dialysis center of Nephrology Department in JPMC has been revamped by Patient Aid Foundation (PAF). PAF has been working alongside JPMC through the model of a Public-Private Partnership to serve patients from all over Pakistan and even abroad for the welfare of humanity and to help underprivileged people. The old machines also have been replaced with 14 new machines in JPMC. A Reverse Osmosis plant has been added to meet international standards for dialysis. In 2017 alone, Patients’ Aid Foundation facilitated the Nephrology department in assisting 8,663 patients. This facility is operational 24 hours. For more information and detail visit their website http://patientsaidfoundation.org.pk/