Economic and Social Challenges of Dialysis During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Covid-19 is reported to have originated in Wuhan, China in December 2019. It slowly spread through the world causing global health problems. Having a high transmission rate the infection spread across the population affecting the most vulnerable. The worst affected world is those who had high-risk factors such as age hypertension, diabetes, chronic respiratory diseases, cancer, cardiovascular diseases and the like. Patients with end-stage renal disease were hit hard. These patients world vulnerable to covid-19 they are older and also have comorbidity. Their immune system is weak which makes them more vulnerable to infection. Moreover, patients with end-stage kidney disease need to visit the dialysis centres three times a week for around 4 h. Exposure to the dialysis centre made them more exposed to the infection. Many patients are treated simultaneously at these dialysis centres. The non-availability of an antiviral drug for covid-19 it makes more important to prevent the disease. The infection can be prevented by limiting exposure to the infected areas. Many guidelines have been issued by various bodies for the prevention and containment of the disease in these hemodialysis centres. European dialysis working group has published guidelines to prevent the spread of infection in hemodialysis centres. Despite the availability of vaccines, the immune system in the patient having end-stage kidney failure diseases responds poorly to the vaccine. Poor Immunity of dialysis Patients and the emergence of a variant of SARS-COV-19 calls for a booster dose in all the patients undergoing dialysis. Due to Covid-19 stress levels and anxiety levels among the patients increased. However, not much information is available on the mental health of the patients undergoing Haemodialysis during the Pandemic. This study is carried out to study the economic impact of the COVID-19 outbreak on patients undergoing haemodialysis in the city of Bengaluru, India.