Renal replacement therapy in Bosnia and Herzegovina: report of the Society of Nephrology, Dialysis and Transplantation of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Renal replacement therapy (RRT) had been establishedin Bosnia and Herzegovina before the war in 1992–1995.During the war, the activity of the dialysis centres couldonly continue because of donations of supply providedby Medicine Du Monde and the European Union [1].Since 1997, the expenses of dialysis treatment are againmet by the government of Bosnia and Herzegovina.In 1997, the Society of Nephrology, Dialysis andTransplantation of Bosnia Herzegovina was foundedand continues to receive organizational and financialhelp from Medicine Du Monde. In 1999, the societyfounded the renal registry of Bosnia and Herzegovina.Complete data reporting was achieved in 2001, coveringall 20 dialysis centres in Bosnia Herzegovina, with areturn rate of 100%. In the following, we report some ofthe data concerning this part of Europe, which continuesto struggle with political and economical difficulties.The data were obtained using a questionnaire andcovering the years 2000 and 2001. We asked for detailsconcerning the centre (premises, equipment, number ofstaff, type of water treatment), the number and charac-teristics of patients (age, gender, primary renal disease,type of renal replacement therapy, mortality, transplan-tation). We respected the ‘rule of 90 days’, i.e. we inclu-ded only patients who had been on dialysis treatment formore than 3 months [2].