Updated March 16, 2015 19:59:54

Three leading health organisations have set medical researchers a challenge to make an affordable dialysis machine capable of using non-purified water as new figures show more people will experience terminal kidney failure.

Medical researchers at The George Institute of Global Health estimate somewhere between five and 10 million people in the world need dialysis right now.

According to the institute's Australian director Professor Vlado Perkovic only a small portion of that number have access to it.

"Somewhere between half and three quarters of all people with kidney failure around the world never get the chance to receive dialysis and are doomed to die of their disease," he told PM's Mark Colvin.

The group's research, titled Worldwide Access to Treatment for End-stage Kidney Disease: A Systematic Review, shows that by 2030, the number of people on dialysis is predicted to double to about 5.4 million, with most of the growth in Asia.

The figures imply an urgent need for affordable dialysis, with current costs ranging from $US20,000 to $US100,000 for each person, each year.

Prize to challenge developers

The George Institute for Global Health, the International Society of Nephrology and the Asian Pacific Society of Nephrology have joined with the Farrell Family Foundation to create the Affordable Dialysis Prize, which challenges innovators, engineers, patents, medical device companies, students, technology enterprises and inventors to design an affordable dialysis machine.

The fundamental principle and the thing that hasn't been focused on is to produce a low-cost version of dialysis that's effective to allow those people that don't currently have access, to get access

Professor Vlado Perkovic

"We've set a target of $1,000 for a machine to be built that could perform dialysis in much the same way as the machines do today but that could use any water supply, rather than just requiring purified water and that ideally would be rechargeable, either using rechargeable batteries or ideally using solar power," Professor Perkovic said.

He said innovative focus had so far been on creating better machines with additional features, rather than developing efficient and affordable solutions.

"We need to focus not on making a shiner fancier new machine, but making an equally effective but much, much cheaper machine so more people can be treated," Professor Perkovic said.

"The fundamental principle and the thing that hasn't been focused on is to produce a low-cost version of dialysis that's effective to allow those people that don't currently have access, to get access."

Water and power main challenges

Professor Perkovic said for those living in remote parts of Australia, particularly Indigenous communities, access to dialysis was difficult.

"In Australia the vast majority can get dialysis, but it often means making major compromises with regards to where they live," he said.

What we'd really like to see is some of these novel technologies moved over to provide access to dialysis for people who don't have it today

Professor Vlado Perkovic

For example, in places where there is a lack of reliable supply of clean water or power, people may have to travel many kilometres from their communities.

Professor Perkovic said the biggest challenge of making an affordable dialysis machine was the use of clean water.

"The water that we'd be using for dialysis would be effectively exposed to people's blood stream so it must be pure," he said.

"The machines, the reverse-osmosis machines we use to do that these days are very expensive; adding at least as much of the cost as the dialysis machine itself.

"[But] there are technologies that have been developed, though, that allow puddles to be converted into quite clean water but they've not been applied to dialysis.

"What we'd really like to see is some of these novel technologies moved over to provide access to dialysis for people who don't have it today."

Professor Perkovic said that ideally, the new design could take water from any source and purify it on the spot, while meeting all standard safety requirements for blood pumps.

He said this challenge was more difficult than finding access to power.

"There are [mobile phone] charging stations being installed in the most remote places on earth, so I think the power issue is less of a challenge, but it would need to have at the minimum, ideally, rechargeable batteries," he said.

All would-be entrants into the Affordable Dialysis Prize have until the end of the year to create a working prototype, or present plans that would allow a working prototype to be developed.

"Then [we can] hopefully partner with other organisations to develop and produce the machine more broadly and make it available," Professor Perkovic said.

Topics: health, liver-and-kidneys, diseases-and-disorders, australia

First posted March 16, 2015 18:56:55

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Before the Davita Cleveland Dialysis Center moves to its new location, a 10,000 square-foot facility near Southside Elementary School, staff members got the opportunity to show the facility to U.S. Representative Brian Babin, who took a tour of the building on Monday, March 9, speaking to doctors and patients.

According to statistics released by the healthcare provider, there are currently more than 26 million American adults living with some form of chronic kidney disease.

If left untreated, the disease can ultimately progress to kidney failure. The rising expenses associated with treatment have led to an increase in mortality rates, which is only expected to rise with recent legislation associated with the Affordable Care Act.

The plight is not lost on Babin, who was a doctor for many years before taking on a position in national politics. Babin spoke with each patient as he toured the building, showing genuine interest in the situation, which is considered “life or death” for the many patients who must undergo dialysis treatments.

In speaking with local veteran Edward Harris, he commended the man for his military service before receiving an encouraging response.

“I won’t ask if you’re Republican or Democrat,” said Harris. “If you’re doing something to save lives, you’ve got my vote.”

The visit was a much anticipated one by the doctors and staff members at the center, as it provided them the opportunity to present the current state of the average patient in an informative light.

It also enabled them to explain to Babin how the kidney care community is working with U.S. Congress to protect those who depend on dialysis treatments to live.

“You either love dialysis or you don’t love dialysis, but this is our family,” said Family Administrator Christine Biggers. “We love our patients. This is the first job I feel that we are really making a difference.”

Approximately 84 percent of End Stage Renal Disease, or ESRD, patients depend on Medicare’s ESRD benefit to fund treatments. The benefit was put into place by Congress more than 40 years ago to ensure that all kidney failure patients can have access to the life-sustaining therapy.

The main goal of the Davita Cleveland Dialysis Center is to help keep patients alive and fully functioning. Clinic staff member Jonathan Davis presented Babin with an informative series of graphs and statistics on the current state of treatment funding options, also pointing out that portions of the Affordable Care Act will not prove very helpful to continued operations.

“We want to change the system as opposed to not treat the patient,” said Davis.

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