Free dialysis halted at Karanja rural hospital in Wardha as Maha Dialysis centre runs short of funds

Free dialysis at the Maha Dialysis centre in the rural hospital at Karanja in Wardha district has been stopped abruptly. It is said to have been closed temporarily for technical and administrative reasons. Patients on regular dialysis and their relatives will now face considerable hardship.

Under the Maha Dialysis project, 108 centres are running across Maharashtra. In Wardha district, the facility is available at the rural hospitals in Hinganghat and Karanja. The Karanja centre began operating in February 2025. It has 54 registered patients, and 25 receive dialysis regularly. Centre staff said 3,000 dialysis sessions have been carried out there so far.

Patients come from as far as Warud and Morshi to use the centre at Karanja (Ghadge). After the health department was informed of the closure, District Surgeon Rajsing Pawar visited the Karanja centre on Tuesday.

It is said that the funds the project needs have not been received from the government and payments are also pending, leaving the project in a serious financial crisis. Because of the shortage of funds, the project management had to decide to keep the Maha Dialysis centre's operations suspended temporarily. The project managers informed the regular patients of this.

A patient's relative, speaking on condition of anonymity, said his father needs dialysis twice a week. At the government centre, they were suddenly told that the service was shut. According to him, going to a private hospital at the last moment and bearing its costs is beyond their means. He demanded that the administration restart the service immediately.

Wardha District Surgeon Dr Rajsing Pawar said he reached the centre on Tuesday as soon as the project manager informed him that it had been closed because of some technical and administrative difficulties. He said arrangements have been made for all 25 patients undergoing dialysis at this centre at the dialysis centre of Sevagram hospital. According to Dr Pawar, patients should now take the service at the dialysis centre in the Sevagram hospital.