Date – 23 August 2026

For the first time in its history, the AVF Care Workshop travelled outside India. Nearly 100 haemodialysis patients, their families, and nursing staff filled the Town Hall of the Municipality of Quatre Bornes for a session built around one simple idea: your fistula isn’t a surgery you had once — it’s an organ you live with, and you are the person best placed to look after it.

We were honoured to be joined by:

• Hon. Anil Bachool, GOSK — Minister of Health and Wellness
• Hon. Dr. Arvin Boolell, GOSK — Minister of Agro-Industry
• The Hon. Veda Baloomoody — Speaker of the National Assembly
• His Worship Mr. Gungabissoon Lutchmee Soobiraj — Mayor of Quatre Bornes
• Hon. Stephanie Anquetil — Chief Whip of Government

Every patient went home with a Kidney Warrior Toolkit — a stethoscope, a specially designed T-shirt, a red wristband, a renal diet guide, and more — so the listening and checking can continue at home, every day.

Two free apps, launched in English and French

Both work completely offline, need no login or account, and keep everything on the patient’s own phone.

Self Examination AVF — how to look at, feel, and listen to your fistula. 👉 https://avf-self-exam.vercel.app/

Can I Eat This? — a renal diet guide built around Mauritian and Indian food. Every patient on dialysis asks the same question at the table, usually with nobody around to answer it. Now there is:

• Type a food in English, French, or the name you actually use — letchi, brèdes, dholl puri, bringelle — and get a clear YES / CAREFUL / NO, how much, why in plain words, and what to eat instead
• 97 foods from the Mauritian and Indian kitchen
• A daily-needs calculator for fluid limit, weight-gain ceiling, and protein target
• A cup counter to track the day
• A quiz to test yourself
• 46 of the most-asked patient questions, answered
• Can’t find a food? One tap sends it to us on WhatsApp — that’s how the list grows 
  https://avf-diet.vercel.app/

Both apps support the advice of a patient’s own dialysis unit and dietitian — they don’t replace it. No cost, no registration, no advertising. Ever.

What’s next

The most common feedback afterward: the session was too short. We heard you. Free bilingual sessions now continue every two weeks on Google Meet — message us on WhatsApp at +91 92172 17070 to join, and send your questions in advance.

This was only a beginning. We intend to keep returning — to meet more patients, to know the ones we’ve already met better, and to build patient education in Mauritius as something continuous, not a single visit. A relationship, not an event. More to come as it takes shape.

Thank you

To L’express Maurice, for covering the workshop and carrying the message to dialysis patients across Mauritius who couldn’t be in the room with us.

To Mr. Bose Soonarane of the Renal Disease Patients Association, who opened every door. To Francesca Maleco Wai Choon, who held the room together and made sure no patient’s question went unheard. And to Chanderkanta Thakura, who carried this programme from an idea in India to a full hall in Quatre Bornes — every list, every call, every patient reached was her work.

To the Renal Disease Patients Association and the Municipality of Quatre Bornes, for opening their doors and their hearts.

Maintain the lifeline for the lifetime.