Bhutan Kidney Foundation | 2014

 

 

Kidney failure is rapidly growing in Bhutan, increasing from just eight cases of patients on dialysis in 1998 to 113 in 2012.  The cause of this increase is unknown and unresearched. This series explores the faces of patients from Jigme Dorji Wangchuck National Referral Hospital Patients' Guest House. The house provides accommodation to kidney failure patients whilst they undergo dialysis treatment. While accommodation is provided, the house is unstaffed so patients need to bring a carer with them or else they are left to care for themselves.

 

Bhutan Kidney Foundation is an NGO that provides education and awareness about kidney disease, and is an instrumental support group for the well-being of Bhutanese kidney patients.

 

Those suffering with kidney failure receive just two dialysis treatments a week, but they need three treatments to clean their blood of toxins. Dialysis is not a cure, it is a temporary solution while patients wait for a kidney transplant, which for many, will not come.