NKTI shuts down dialysis center

MANILA, Philippines - The National Kidney and Transplant Institute (NKTI) has temporarily shut down its out-patient hemodialysis center after dozens of patients undergoing treatment experienced chills last week.

“I would like to assure the public (that) the main focus here is patient safety, and we are now instituting the processes that we have established when things like this occur,” NKTI executive director Jose Dante Dator said in a press conference yesterday.

Dator said they have decided to close the entire system to pinpoint the problem.

“In the meantime, patients are being transported by the Institute to alternative dialysis facilities accompanied by an NKTI nurse to be able to provide continuity of their dialysis care,” he said.

The NKTI executive director assured the public that they would address the concerns of patients affected by the temporary closure of the dialysis center, as well as reimburse additional expenses incurred by those who experienced the chills.

Romina Daquilan, head of the NKTI hemodialysis unit, said 44 patients – or around 13 percent – experienced chills on Wednesday and Thursday.

“When we stopped operations, we started looking at the processes,” she said. “All of those are being done and we have to wait for the results.”

Dator described the incident as “isolated and sporadic,” which he said required a thorough investigation of the whole “production line.”

“We are looking for a common denominator,” he said, noting this was the first time they encountered a huge number of patients experienced chills while undergoing dialysis treatment.

‘Warning signs’

NKTI public information officer Ricardo Jose Quintos II described the chills experienced by the patients as warning signs of possible problems, for instance a bacterial infection.

He said, however, that it may be caused by other reasons such allergy and change in temperature.

Daquilan noted that people who undergo dialysis for the first time would sometimes experience chills as they are new to the process.

She said they immediately tested those who experienced chills, and majority of them have not reported similar incidents during further dialysis treatments. She added that they are waiting the results of tests for around 20 patients.

The NKTI expressed hope that they would be able to reopen the dialysis center next week.

Dator assured the public that the machines will undergo a thorough systems check before they decide to put the center back in operation.