For Ng Yuk-mui, 65, being connected to a tube in her stomach to remove waste from her blood has become a nightly routine, one that has lasted since 2019, when she was diagnosed with kidney failure.

With the help of her daughter, the retired incense stick shop owner undergoes peritoneal dialysis at home every night, with the machine that cleans her abdomen running for hours while she sleeps.

“I was diagnosed with diabetes three years before my kidney failure. I felt my body getting weaker and my eyesight getting worse, but I didn’t want to disturb my children,” she said.

“One day in 2019, I felt exhausted, my body was swollen and I couldn’t breathe. When I sought help at the hospital, I discovered that I was suffering from kidney failure.

She is one of 5,280 kidney failure patients in Hong Kong who have to undergo peritoneal dialysis daily, but the treatment at home allows her to enjoy her daily activities that would otherwise be disrupted by frequent visits to a medical center.

According to Hospital Authority figures, there were more than 11,200 kidney failure patients in Hong Kong last year, with 22 percent treated by hemodialysis or ongoing blood dialysis, while 47 percent underwent peritoneal dialysis.