A less-popular form of kidney dialysis is getting a boost this month, with two centres opening within two weeks of each other.

The centres provide training and support for the growing number of patients who want to do their dialysis at home and do not want to be hooked up to a machine at a centre for four hours.

This do-it-yourself approach, known as peritoneal dialysis, also costs less, by as much as half.

Yesterday, the Singapore General Hospital (SGH) with the Singapore Children's Society officially opened its Peritoneal Dialysis Centre in SGH.

But first off the ground was the Kidney Dialysis Foundation's centre in Ang Mo Kio.

The National Kidney Foundation, which runs 21 conventional dialysis centres here, is planning to follow in its footsteps. It has started training its staff and making infrastructure changes.

In peritoneal dialysis, dialysis fluid is fed directly into the abdomen through a tube there, and drained after it extracts toxins and waste water from the membrane lining the abdomen wall.

It is done manually, for about 30 minutes four times a day, or by a machine for about 10 hours every night.

It costs between $1,300 and $1,800 a month, less pricey than the conventional haemodialysis, which costs between $1,300 and $2,700 a month.

In haemodialysis, patients are hooked up to a machine at a centre for about four hours, three times a week, to have the blood cleansed.

Studies overseas show that a self-dialysis centre is, on average, 20 per cent to 30 per cent cheaper to run because it requires fewer infrastructure and equipment, said head of SGH's renal medicine, Dr Wong Kok Seng.

But peritoneal dialysis will not replace haemodialysis, said Dr Balaji Sadasivan, Senior Minister of State for Health and Information, Communications and the Arts.

Speaking at the opening of the latest centre yesterday, he said that 'the ministry is not pushing one type of dialysis over the other', but is giving patients more choice, depending on their preference and lifestyle.

When peritoneal dialysis was first offered at SGH in 1980, only five patients took it up. Now, about 23 per cent of the 3,500 kidney dialysis patients in Singapore are on it.

With the total number of dialysis patients expected to double by 2010, the Ministry of Health aims to increase this proportion to 35 per cent over the next three years.

However, there are several obstacles to overcome: Lack of knowledge of the method, fear of treatment themselves or uncomfortable with having a tube stick out of their tummies permanently, said Dr Balaji.

Patients who have had abdominal surgery also cannot take to this do-it-yourself dialysis, said the new centre's medical director, Dr Marjorie Foo.

However, for marketing director Gary Tan, 45, it was the obvious choice when his kidney failed more than four years ago.

He has to travel once every two months to countries in the region, and sometimes to the United States and Canada, for work.

He said: 'My concern was how to find dialysis centres, especially when I travel to more remote areas, say in Indonesia and Vietnam?

'It's better to do it myself and know what's happening, than to leave it to other people.'