“Caring for the health of our people is integral and will always be a priority for our government. In two years of management, in coordination with our @SaludDeportesBo, we have invested Bs479.3 million ($68 million) in free hemodialysis treatment for the benefit of 3,400 patients,” the president wrote on his Twitter account.
Arce added in another statement that the Plurinational State has invested more than 13.8 million Bolivians (nearly $2 million) in providing medicines and funding free kidney transplants.
The dignitary claimed that for Bolivians, the country has become healthy again thanks to the unity, struggle and deeply democratic conscience of the people.
The Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) recognized Bolivia in 2022 as one of the few nations in the region to offer free care to patients with kidney disease.
The advisor to this international organization on noncommunicable diseases, Lenildo de Moura, also recognized the Arce government’s responsibility and commitment to this type of care.
For its part, the Bolivian Health Ministry reported that its specialists perform 800,000 hemodialysis sessions each year.
Jeyson Auza, minister for the sector, advocated preventive public measures to avoid the development of kidney disease in patients.
According to the President of the Bolivian Society of Nephrology, Edwin Quispe, there are more than 3,300 patients with end-stage chronic kidney disease in Bolivia.
Quispe stated that they receive subsidized hemodialysis based on Unified Health System Act 1152.
He described that about 2,021 of them are treated in 37 private contract centers, 789 in 28 municipal units and the rest in tertiary-level hospitals.
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