Dialysis unit coming for Labrador patients

Labrador patients with kidney disease should soon be able to receive treatment closer to home, with a government move to complete a dialysis unit by the end of the year.

John Hickey, Newfoundland and Labrador's minister responsible for Labrador affairs, said a tender will be issued to renovate space at the Labrador Health Centre in Happy Valley-Goose Bay.

"This vital equipment is long overdue for the people of Labrador," Hickey said in a statement.

Renal patients in the region have often had to move to St. John's, to receive treatment there.

Daniel Ashini, president of the Innu Nation, is grieving the loss of his cousin, John Jack, who died just last week after a lengthy battle with kidney disease.

Ashini said the three years during which Jack lived in St. John's were trying for relatives.

"It was a huge toll on the part of the family," Ashini said.

"There was a great deal of expense… that had to go through the family, in terms of remaining with him in his last days in the hospital."

The unit, which will be able to accommodate 16 patients at a time, will not be able to treat patients with severe kidney disease, because Labrador does not have a physician specializing in the area.