A dialysis patient says the conditions at Nova Scotia’s main dialysis unit are so appalling he almost stopped treatment altogether.

Tim Nickerson says the unit is so old, dirty and lacking equipment that he wants to take the premier on a personal tour of the facility.

Nickerson visits the Victoria General site of the Queen Elizabeth II Health Sciences Centre in Halifax three days a week, five hours at a time.

“I’m just mentally drained from all the negativity and you know, it’s a poisonous place over there,” he says.

He says the conditions at the hospital are simply unacceptable.

“Half the time the thermometers don’t work. They have something called an O2 monitor, it’s a little thing you put on your finger when you’re having trouble breathing. There’s one of them for the entire unit and it’s broken up into sections and half the time the nurses are running around trying to find it.”

Capital Health admits things could be better at the hospital.

“We’ve had leaks and things that have caused damage and there have been cases of mould that we’ve had to deal with,” says spokesperson John Gillis.

The Nova Scotia government announced $420,000 in funding for the design of a new dialysis unit at the Halifax Infirmary two years ago, but a completed facility is still nearly two years away.

“I firmly think that the new premier, Premier McNeil, and Prime Minister Harper should really come over to Halifax and let me give them a guided tour of the unit,” says Nickerson.

But Nova Scotia Health Minister Leo Glavine says it is his responsibility to look into the matter, and not the premier’s. Glavine also says he is willing to tour the dialysis unit and assess the situation.

Nickerson says he is so desperate for help he almost stopped treatment altogether.

“I’m a man of nothing else left to lose. I’m sure my kids would understand one day why I did it.”

He says his kids are the reason he is speaking out in the first place, as his kidney disease is genetic. He says he doesn’t want his children to experience the same hospital conditions someday.

With files from CTV Atlantic's Kayla Hounsell