My Dad is in Africa and is on Dialysis. the dialysis center over there requires patients to bring thier own supplies like dialyzer, bi-bag etc. He has no insurance to help with the cost of supplies. They are using a 4008s dialysis machine and was told to get a Fx80 dialyzer in addition to other supplies. I am trying to figure where to buy these in bulk at a cheaper rate but i am unable to locate a source that sells these. my other question is whether a different dialyzer will work with this machine. i would appreciate any one who can help me identify places i can get these supplies. i having searching the internet without luck. the only suppliers i have seen are from China but i am not sure if their products are genuine or will work with the machine.
Any advice will be greatly appreciated.
It must be scary to have your dad ill in Africa and have to try to coordinate supplies. We have two companies on this site that sell overseas. One of them is Ji-Huan (http://www.ji-hua.com/en/product.asp, which is from China. We can’t vouch for what they sell, but we have never had any complaints back to us. I’m sure they could tell you whether the dialyzer they offer will work with the 4008s. I would think so; it’s a pretty standard machine and many companies make dialyzers for it. The other company is Gia Medical (http://www.giamedical.com). Please let us know if either of them are able to help your dad.
I know this is a HD forum, but has your Dad considered PD? Other than the issue of getting a catheter placed, it seems it would be much less hassle. No clinic and potentially no machine. Why heck, if he does not want to consider PD and he has a good support person at home, he may even want to consider home hemo.
Just a thought.
Thanks for the response. Well, i did think like you initially when this problem came up. It seemed rational that PD would be an easy choice. However, for whatever reason it appears that they do not offer that to patients for reasons i do not know. I als did think about home HD but my parents are terrified of that option thinking they wouldnt know what to do if something went wrong. Besides there support needed from a service providers such as a clinic to oversee home HD could be lacking. However i will be going home in december and will look at all the optiond available.
No one goes home on HD without training to be sure that they DO know what to do if something goes wrong. During training, the nurse may pull the power cord out of the wall, kink a line, etc., so people get to practice what they would do. In the US, there is also telephone backup from a clinic nurse 24 hours a day, but I don’t know if this is true in Africa.
My dad clinic uses fresenius fx80 dialyzers. They are vey expensive over in Africa almost $50/unit. I have been searching here in the Us and managed to find optiflux 250 for sale and was wondering if this dialyzer would compatible with fresenius 4008s dialysis machine . These are seem to be more reasonably priced.
African healthcare is scary, which country/ area you are in. Hope things will workout in best for you. Good Luck in your search
Does your Dad need other supplies? Bandages, etc? I have quite a bit that were from me being in home HD and I no longer use since I have had to go back to doing in center.
Yes, He does. I usually buy here and send to him. if you thinking of giving them away. We’d really appreciate it. Just let me know what i need to do.
Thank you
Yamu Moyo
