Chinese Man Keeps Himself Alive for 13 Years Using Homemade Dialysis Machine

Consumers who think items made in China are inferior and useless may think twice after reading this —but are cautioned not to try this at home.

A Chinese man suffering from kidney disease, Hu Songwen, has kept himself alive for 13 years using a homemade dialysis machine, UK's Daily Mail reported. "The cost for each home treatment is only 60 yuan (£6 or P391), which is 12 percent of the hospital charge for dialysis," it quoted Hu as saying. Hu, a resident of a rural area in East China, built the contraption after he could no longer afford high hospital bills.

The machine, used thrice a week, is made of kitchen utensils and old medical instruments. Also, Hu used disused medical equipment, such as a blood pump and plastic tubing. The Daily Mail report said Hu was diagnosed with kidney disease in 1993, while he was a college student.

While he initially underwent dialysis in hospitals, his savings ran out after six years - leaving him no choice but to make his own machine. Not even the death of two friends who tried to build and use similar homemade machines fazed him.

This is awesome. It's sad that he could no longer afford the hospital treatment, but it goes to show if there's a will, there's a way.

Source

Originally posted by sarahlm


This is awesome. It's sad that he could no longer afford the hospital treatment, but it goes to show if there's a will, there's a way.

Agreed and 1 wishes he strength and medical support so he can maybe get better supplies...

LOVE LIGHT ETERNIA*******

reply to post by sarahlm


that is very clever...but necessary (I believe)

My Daughter is engaged to a Honk Kong man (British Subject) and has been over to Hong Kong and China 3 times. She came back a different person...really opened her eyes. The poverty over there was incredible and fact is you need money $$$$ to get treatment.

My soon to be Son-in Law's Father was diagnosed with Luekemia and lucky for them..they have the money to get the treatment.

S & F from me.

Holy crap! I know we live on a planet full of angry monkeys, but that is one smart (and brave) angry monkey! I wonder if they could get this guy to a country that actually practices medicine, and see what keeps him ticking over using a Rube Goldberg device. Imagine if all this guy's tinkering has produced some sort of virus or bacteria that ONLY exists in his machine, and by interacting with his body chemistry, it's actually BETTER than the machines used in the hospitals.!

"Man developing home made dialysis machine develops liver disease. Survives on home made dialysis machine."

I dunno, lol, he looks like the worst junkie right there.

Has to have it thrice a week. I am amazed he has not died from infection.

What a world we live in where you need to jerry rig your own life saving contraptions...

yet don't you dare touch that "shady" stuff for your glaucoma, cancer treatment, or terminal illness. You criminals.

Good luck to him, but I think it's a sign of how little we actually care as a species, than a sign of our ability to overcome the odds.

Hard core mickey mouse engineering at its best! I think peritoneal dialysis would be easier if I had to try do my own!(knock wood)

Almost want to call BS. If his homemade contraption really works for a small fraction of hospital costs...why isn't there a home kit available yet?

He might want to get a second opinion. He probably no longer has the kidney funk.

reply to post by ChuckNasty


Nice! Another thing, maybe he has the 'truck stop' sandwich worms from Futurama! What if hey check him out and instead of kidneys he now has some sort of bio-Sham-WOW instead? Maybe he's a MASSIVE alcoholic, and he's perfected the first plug and play mini-bar !

whats sadder is the hospital would let him die based on the fact he has no money

Originally posted by mykingdomforthetruth
whats sadder is the hospital would let him die based on the fact he has no money

That was my point lol, entirely.

We give more credit to a man who saves his own life if he rigs up a bunch of pump tubes and wires, than if he magically found health in a plant.

Because we value money more than life.

He's a novelty. Had someone saved him, what news? But he mad maxed his own friggen dialysis machine.. He controles his own life. That makes him a maniac

actually he'd get proper current medical treatment if they'd arrested him in a western country. Smoke wonka leaves, it makes sure you go to a prisonpital.

Grrrrrrr.. can sanity return soon plox?

Universal healthcare would be a much better option. Instead this guy has to risk his life because he's poor. Clearly China isn't communist.

Originally posted by WaterBottle
Universal healthcare would be a much better option. Instead this guy has to risk his life because he's poor. Clearly China isn't communist.

universal health care isn't all it's cracked up to be. doctor shortages, long waits for specialists and surgeries, only SOME medical treatments covered etc. coming from a country that has "universal health care", i have had to go to another country just to get the medical help i need, too bad i couldn't get the help i needed at home.

Originally posted by sarahlm
While he initially underwent dialysis in hospitals, his savings ran out after six years - leaving him no choice but to make his own machine. Not even the death of two friends who tried to build and use similar homemade machines fazed him.

Wait what? Isn't China a communist country with full socialized medicine? Why would a person need to pay anything there for their great healthcare....I'm confused.

Maybe they should adopt Obamacare where this would NEVER happen...

reply to post by sarahlm


I wish God's children would care more about each other......This man should not be denied medical care because of FAKE paper money......

Unreal

reply to post by generik


Yeah well private healthcare is hideous. If you aren't in the process of dying then good luck finding a doctor or hospital that is going to treat you without being paid. Even if you have insurance, it usually doesn't cover 100%, so you're still going to be in financial ruin if you have a chronic illness. Privatization keeps the prices at a sky high on top of it. The US has no price controls on prescriptions, so if you need a non-generic pill on a regular basis, GOOD LUCK, unless you're rich. This is why Americans flock to Canadian pharmacies to get their scripts.

reply to post by Xtrozero


No, it's a state capitalist country. Obamacare has nothing to do with nationalized healthcare either.

And this is why I am glad I have a national health service, if I required that treatment, I get that for free, at a hospital, as many times as I like. How awesome is that, ahhhh good old socialist universal healthcare.

reply to post by WaterBottle


lets put it this way BOTH forms of healthcare have their own problems, with private health care it's finding a cheap (or free) doctor is hard, with universal healthcare just FINDING any doctor able to take new patients is hard. with private healthcare cost is extreme. with universal healthcare, it might be free (if what you need is actually covered), but be prepared to wait possibly a year or more for help, even if you are in severe pain, so you can't work. this is why many people from both the US and Canada head off to other countries where healthcare is cheaper and readily available.

Americans flock to Canada for their prescriptions because it's cheaper? WOW that's kinda funny since a lot of Canadians flock down to the states for cheaper prescriptions as well as helpful medicines that you don't even need a prescription for but are illegal in Canada so they smuggle it back.

as for the guy in China, it really came as a shock that they have pay medical there being a "communist country" and all. it's a shame that seemingly all over the world you run into issues with healthcare as it's either cost prohibitive, or not readily available. is there no happy median between the two?