Are there any circumstances where it is legal to recover boxes of PD solutions once they have been delivered to a patient’s home? Can they be recovered for patient training? If the patient is Method 1 can the supplies be recovered and redistributed to another patient? Thanks.
I contacted Jim Curtis, who serves as a consultant to people setting up dialysis clinics. He told me that it is standard procedure for every dialysis program to either donate or discard all supplies that have been returned from a patient. Supplies in a dialysis facility or a supplier’s warehouse are stored under controlled (or at least known) conditions. There is no way of knowing for certain that supplies from a patients home have not been exposed to cockroaches or other pests, mold, or environmental temperatures that could cause a potential problem. There are also pharmacy regulations against this.
Here are some possible places to ask if they’d be willing to accept these as a donation:
– American Medical Resources Foundation at www.amrf.com/ says it accepts equipment and supplies for donation and use in foreign countries. Some dialysis providers and many hospitals mostly in the northeast have donated to it.
– Northwest Medical Teams International at www.nwmedicalteams.org/
– World Organization of Renal Therapies at www.worldorganizationofrenaltherapies.org/home.html helps people in Cameroon who have kidney failure.
If your clinic donates PD supplies or equipment, your clinic administrator could find out from the IRS or your clinic’s tax advisor how much can be claimed as a donation on taxes. Be sure to mention that the inventory donated will be used for ill people [IRS Section 170(e)(3)(A)].
i came across e-mails at this site that some persons with noble concerns were inquiring of where to donate dianneals. We have quite a number of poor patients here in rural kenya with CKD/ESRD, and it is quite frustrating to see them die so needlessly! Medical insuarances here do not cater for clinical conditions requiring dialysis & public facilities are always short of the necessary supplies! I have inquired at American Resource foundation for aid but unfortunately they supply in bulk (containers) & part- payments(to offset collecton & other incidentals) are rquired in advance;they normally deal with equipments but not dispensables such as dianneals. Incidentally the deposit may run into several thousands dollars which may not be feasible! kindly let me know of persons willing to donate dianneals or even used but still functioning home hemodialysis machines (preferably Gambro AK95S, Fresenius Models or Baxter). I wuold then make arrangements to collect the items directly from donor location for onward transmissions to the professionals assisting The Association of people living with ESRD/CKD in Kenya. Contact me thro E-Mail adress: nephropathyphilanthropykenya@yahoo.com
[b]My name is Amos and I am currently working on a business plan for a dialysis center. Could you provide me with Mr. Jim Curtis’s contact information, his service would assist me dearly.
Thank you.
Amos[/b]
Amos, on our “Start a Home Program” section (http://www.homedialysis.org/v1/start-a-program/), you can read about how other programs started, find a step-by-step guide to getting home dialysis certification, and send an email to consultants in our “Consultant’s Corner”–including Jim Curtis! 