Reusing dialyzer in low income countries: A good cost saving tactic with complex ethics

Despite almost universal practice of dialyzer reuse from the earliest days of haemodialysis,reusing dialyzer always remains a controversial issue and several ethical concerns have been raised. some of the important are safety of reuse over single use,informed consent of the patient,conflict of interest on the part of physician or manufacturer,fiscal responsibility and environmental stewardship. indeed,at the beginning of this century,there was a drastic shift of practice in favour of single use in developed countries due to availability of biocompatible haemodialyzers,at favourable price. despite this mega shift,dialyzer reuse is still widely practised in low-income countries. considering cost inflation and limited medical resources in such countries,dialyzer reuse may be justified as a cost-saving strategy for this part of world. however,it poses the same ethical questions to us which were a matter of debate for the western world in the 1980s and 1990s. this review of literature was planned to revisit and highlight these concerns. © 2017,pakistan medical association. all rights reserved.