Man builds own dialysis machine due to high medical prices
A poor man from the Qutang township of Jiangsu Province in eastern China, Hu Songwen built his own dialysis machine because of high medical prices. Diagnosed 20 years ago with kidney disease, hospital prices quickly emptied family savings 13 years ago.
Single and living with an 81-year old mother who helps him with his treatments, 43-year-old Hu Songwen uses his homemade dialysis machine three times a week. He sits in his small bathroom filled with medical equipment, such as plastic tubing and a blood pump. Waste products that cannot be removed by his kidneys are removed by the machine, a process that has worked successfully for the past 13 years.
According to Songwen, "The cost for each home treatment is only 60 yuan (US$9.60), which is 12 percent of the hospital charge for dialysis."
The purified water he uses for his dialysis fluid for the procedure is made of potassium chloride, sodium chloride and sodium hydrogen carbonate. Stating that the machine can be dangerous, two of his friends died after building similar machines.
Hu Songwen made a video of his homemade dialysis machine, once he learned about a nationwide rural cooperative medical insurance and a medical aid system were covering kidney disease. His local agreement is now allowing him hospital treatments at the cost of each of his own treatments but is has not switched yet. Songwen justified his decision with this statement, "the nearest hospital is distant and very crowded."
Sodahead posted that before he was diagnosed with renal failure Songwen was studying to be meteorologist. Once he developed the disease, he purchased a textbook, using kitchen utensils and medical supplies to develop his kidney dialysis machine.
"As long as you have a high school degree, understand the principle of dialysis, follow the operational instructions and keep a close watch during the process, nothing should go wrong," he said to the Southern Weekly newspaper. The newspaper went further, citing 2008 research that suggested the exorbitant costs of dialysis meant only 10% of Chinese receiving the treatment could afford it on a regular basis
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