Tenders delay opening of clinic’s dialysis unit

DIALYSIS patients are being forced to travel long distances, often in the middle of the night, for treatment while a renal unit close to their homes is still not officially open to patients.

A long-awaited private clinic promised in Kilkenny is open but its still not up and running because of tendering delays. It means dialysis patients have to travel more than an hour away to Waterford Regional Hospital’s unit which is now working through the night.

At the Wellstone Clinic in Kilkenny, 12 dialysis stations are lying idle. According to a spokesperson for the Irish medical and surgical sales and marketing company PEI, which is the owner/operator of the clinic, the facility “has no patients yet” although it became operational on January 23.