$253m for New Dialysis Beds

A total of 5,000 new dialysis beds will be provided to dialysis centers in 10 provinces at a cost of $253.1 million (10,000 billion rials), contributed by investors in the private sector, said Ebrahim Raisiyoun, economic advisor to the health minister. “About 80% of the new beds will be allocated to private and 20% to state-run dialysis centers over the next 18 months,” IRNA quoted him as saying. Currently, there are 25,000 patients requiring dialysis while the number of beds is only 3,200. Usually, each treatment lasts about four hours and is done three times per week. Dialysis is the artificial process of eliminating waste from the blood which healthy kidneys normally do.