Kidney patients suffered badly as dialysis services remained halted for seven hours at two public hospitals in the capital and Chattogram yesterday.

It happened after Sandor Dialysis Services Bangladesh (Pvt) Ltd, which provides the services under a Public-Private Partnership (PPP) agreement, suddenly stopped its operations at the hospitals around 8:00am, demanding dues from the Directorate General of Health Services.

Following hours of negotiations, the services resumed around 3:00pm.

Sandor officials, however, threatened they will completely shut down the services if the dues are not paid quickly.

According to the officials, the dues totalled Tk 23cr, but DGHS officials said it would be around Tk 8.34cr.

After the services were stopped yesterday morning, kidney patients gathered in front of the National Institute of Kidney Diseases and Urology (NIKDU) near Shyamoli in protest around 1:00pm, blocking traffic on the Mirpur-Azimpur Road.

They left around half an hour later following requests by the police and the hospital authorities.

Speaking to The Daily Star, 30-year-old Asim Kumar Shil, a patient, said he needs to undergo kidney dialysis twice. "I came all the way from Munshiganj this morning for my dialysis. If I don't get it quickly, I might be in danger."

Asim said he cannot afford the treatment at any private hospital.  

Fifty-year-old Prafulla Kumar Nath went to the dialysis centre at Chattogram Medical College Hospital (CMCH) from the district's Mirsharai upazila.

"I have been having dialysis at this hospital since 2018. I pay only Tk 486 for each session, whereas it will be around Tk 2,000 at any private hospital."

Sandor Dialysis Services Bangladesh, a concern of India's Sandor Medicaids Pvt Ltd, has been providing the services at the 69-bed dialysis centre of NIKDU since November 28, 2016, and at the 31-bed dialysis centre at CMCH since February 28, 2017, said Sandor sources.

As per the PPP agreement, Sandor is supposed to provide 21,450 dialysis sessions per year for Tk 5.30cr. The amount would increase by five percent every year as per the deal.

Sandor officials claimed it provided additional 95,696 sessions in 2020 and 2021 after being asked by the DGHS, but they were not paid for the extra sessions.

Half the annual fees for the regular services -- Tk 2.65cr -- were also not paid, they alleged.

"DGHS owes us Tk 23 crore. We had notified them about it six days before suspending the services, but they did not give us any solution," Rajeev Sindhi, managing director of Sandor Dialysis Services Bangladesh (Pvt) Ltd, told The Daily Star yesterday.

He said 360 sessions are conducted every day at the two public hospitals.

NIKDU Director Dr Mizanur Rahman said, "We made all regular payments. But there is a dispute over the fees for the extra sessions. Sandor resumed the services on our request.

"If Sandor stops providing the services, we might have to think about alternatives. But we are trying to find a permanent solution."

Dr Farid Hossain Miah, director (hospitals and clinics) at the DGHS, said, "We make all the payments regularly following the due process."  

About the extra sessions, he said Sandor did not properly take permission from DGHS in this regard.

According to an estimate of 2019, around 30,000 patients needed kidney dialysis in the country. For them, there are only 130 private and public dialysis centres, most of which are situated in the capital.

Cost for each dialysis session at a private hospital ranged between Tk 2,800 and Tk 7,000, The Daily Star has learnt after talking to different hospitals across the capital.

The government launched the PPP deal to cut the cost to Tk 400-600 by providing subsidies.