Photo: Southern Weekly

A Jiangsu man suffering from kidney disease has lived for 13 years using a homemade dialysis machine, the Southern Weekly reported.

Hu Songwen, from Nantong, Jiangsu Province, was diagnosed with uremia in 1993 and received 13 dialysis treatments a month for six years, which ate up all his family's savings, the paper said.

Hu began experimenting in 1996, buying the necessary parts and solutions to conduct the necessary blood-filtering treatment at home. According to Hu, the process only costs 60 yuan ($9.65) each time, as opposed to eight times the cost of hemodialysis in a hospital.

The secret to his money-saving method is that only a small number of parts are crucial to expensive dialysis machines, namely the blood-filtering dialyzer which costs only about 100 yuan ($16), Hu told the Southern Weekly.

"Most people who suffer from kidney disease are unaware of the theory behind the machines," Hu said.  

Although home dialysis kits are common in other parts of the world, in China they are largely uncommon, imported and expensive.  

However, nephrologist Sun Wei told the Yangtze Evening News that Hu's method can easily lead to infections and should not be imitated.

Sun explained that generally medical insurance will reimburse over 90 percent of the cost of hemodialysis.

@清颢: There are still many diseases which are not covered by medical insurance. High medical bills have bankrupted many families.

@乐悠悠的那些日子: I think it's dangerous. It's too easy for patients to get infected.

@-Memoryy: Even though the doctor said what Hu did wouldn't work, he had no choice. What was he supposed to do, just wait for death?

@汤好圆: We should first find out whether medical institutions price hemodialysis treatment too high. Hu might have figured out the theory behind hemodialysis machines. Could he apply for a patent?