Hospitals scramble for dialysis machines amid surge in COVID-19 patients with kidney failure: report

Hospitals are scrambling for dialysis machines amid the surge of COVID-19 patients experiencing kidney failure, according to the New York Times.

Those suffering from severe illness from COVID-19 experience differing levels of organ failure.

Kidney specialists estimate that 20 to 40 percent of patients in intensive care for complications associated with a COVID-19 infection suffered kidney failure and needed emergency dialysis, according to the Times.

There is still no research that suggests kidneys are particularly targeted by the disease. 

According to the Times, hospitals lack both the necessary equipment and trained nurses needed to administer dialysis on a large number of patients. Medical facilities in hot spots such as New York City, Boston, New Orleans, Chicago and Detroit are experiencing a growing demand for kidney treatment and a lack of resources to administer it. 

The newspaper reported that hospitals are not only lacking machines to perform the kidney treatment, but fluids and other supplies needed for dialysis. 

Hospitals have reported a shortage of medical equipment for the past month including personal protective equipment and ventilators, and have requested resources that have grown scarce while treating the respiratory virus.

President Trump announced earlier this month that major corporations like General Motors and 3M were contracted under the authority of the Defense Production Act to make ventilators and N95 masks.