I held a fruitful meeting with Mr Prem Taulloo, President, and Mr Bose Soornarame, Secretary of the Renal Disease Patients’ Association, on renal health in Mauritius.
Chronic kidney disease affects approximately 200,000 people in the country, including nearly 1,600 patients on dialysis.
Several key issues were discussed, including:
• Prevention through awareness campaigns;
• Modernisation of equipment and consumables;
• Access to essential medicines, including canagliflozin for type 2 diabetes;
• Strengthening vascular access for dialysis in public hospitals through the promotion of arteriovenous fistulas, the safest, most durable method with the lowest risk of infection.
Our conversations also centered on the new renal transplant unit at Jawaharlal Nehru Hospital in Rose Belle, as well as legal frameworks such as the Human Tissue (Removal, Preservation and Transplant) Act 2018, and the need to better regulate organ donation, preservation, and transplantation, in line with principles of safety, transparency, and ethics.
I also took note of the important role of the Renal Disease Patients’ Association in advocating for patients and their families, particularly in monitoring the circumstances surrounding the deaths of 12 dialysis patients in 2021 during the COVID-19 period, which are currently under judicial inquiry.