Sharjah: A 27-year-old Indian expatriate says she urgently needs around Dh100,000 to settle her dialysis bill.
Nikita Hari, whose kidneys have failed, said she also needs around Dh3,000 per week to continue the life-saving treatment.
Nikita, an executive at a shipping company, added she requires rectification of her neurogenic bladder and a kidney transplant.
The costs are too high for her and the family has appealed for financial support.
The transplant will cost around $70,000 (around Dh257,000) if a non-family donor is found and the procedure is done outside the UAE, her sister, Namrata, 22, said.
Namrata is willing to donate her kidney but Nikita said she first requires the bladder surgery.
Nikita added that she has no estimate yet for the rectification surgery as she has been unable to find a surgeon willing to take her case.
The Sharjah resident was born prematurely with a bladder that hadn’t developed fully and complications eventually led to renal failure.
The patient had her bladder expanded earlier but complications and infections caused her stressed kidneys to give out.
A kidney transplant was done seven years ago in the Philippines but she suffered renal failure again.
Nikita has been on dialysis three times a week for around a year and three months now.
She cannot drink more than 800ml of water a day as it would interfere with her dialysis.
“No one has really found a solution. They can’t guarantee what will be the outcome of the [bladder rectification] surgery. It’s risky,” Nikita said.
Namrata added: “Her doctor is looking for a way. They need to rectify the bladder so the pressure isn’t on the kidneys. We don’t want to go back to the same position again.”
Nikita said a transplant was bound to “fail within days” if the bladder issue isn’t sorted out first.
Meanwhile, the outstanding dialysis cost has soared to some Dh100,000. Her health-care provider has “not pressurised us” but “they’ve been asking” for settlement, Namrata said.
“It’s life-threatening for her if she misses even one session.”
Nikita, who was born and raised in the UAE, is on life-long medication, which is currently costing her Dh2,500 a month, she added.
Despite her dialysis appointments, she started working twice a week to supplement the family income. Her sister and father also work but the costs are too high for them.
“I get low blood pressure, I feel faint. I’m too tired on my dialysis days to do anything. Every day it’s a new problem,” Nikita said.
She also cannot drink more than a few glasses of water or any fluids a day.
“That’s hard for me because I used to be a waterholic. Now I feel very thirsty all the time.”
Still, the young woman daily distributes free water, juice and snacks to workers toiling in the sun.
“I know what it’s like not to drink water, especially in this part of the world,” Nikita said.
