For many people, especially those with some medical condition requiring dialysis, travelling means living, feeling alive, enjoying a certain way of freedom.
Today we address our thoughts and messages to renal patients and we are aware how much they depend on their treatment being provided in the best way in fact to stay alive.
In one of the „medical tourism“ debates I found the arguments that assured me even more about the right concept and approach of one of our partner clinics in the south of Istria, specializing in providing dialysis treatment for such patients, so that they and thier families can enjoy pleasant holiday time, while at the same time the usual treatments that are otherwise perfomed at home can continue undisturbed.
The Polyclinic – Dialysis centre is situated in a hotel. It is a fully equipped facility, in a new air-conditioned space with the most up-to-date and top quality equipment. There are 20 dialysis points with the Braun Model dialog + on-line HDF devices. The Polyclinic is conducted by an expert team of doctors with many, many years of experience and working in compliance with all medical norms and standards. In addition, there are the helpful assistants who speak several European languages and this will make guests feel safe and at home no matter what country they come from.
With the dialysis away from home, as with anyone who travels for medical reasons, a renal patient, is satisfying a specific need. That need, however, goes beyond the sheer need of having his, or her, treatment delivered whilst having a holiday. Renal patients travel because they want to regain normality in their lives, and having a holiday is a small, albeit important, part of that journey.
In-clinic haemodialysis is the most frequent treatment used to replace failed renal function. Once lost, the function of our kidneys can rarely – yet – be recovered: hence the name chronic renal failure. This leaves chronic kidney patients in a situation of complete dependence on a replacement treatment: which can either be renal transplant – the most effective of all, Peritoneal Dialysis (a more flexible treatment type, which can be done at home, work or other places) or haemodialysis (nowadays only a very small minority of which is performed at the patient’s home). This situation entails, amongst many other consequences, one paramount verdict: the situation is not transient (it is not curable) and the patient is completely dependent on the clinic in which he or she finds the machine which will perform the required blood purification according to need.
Renal patients do travel in search for a pan-medical solution for a medical condition which is transient (even if vast) but they bring with them the psycho-social impact of their chronic disease, namely the state of dependence it brings along, for the patient and his/her family. This impact can be mitigated by a holiday experience. It is around understanding this need and around creating a holiday experience, namely one which encompasses freedom of choice, ease of booking and safety. If it works (i.e. if the experience is good) and if patients find the right medical partners and processes, they will basically travel more and more like “normal“ tourists. In that sense, holiday dialysis brings the aspect of travelling for renal patients back to” normal”.
Growing numbers of patients and patients’ families who travel are the living proof of that.
