Experts at a workshop on Wednesday informed that about 20 million people of the country are suffering from some sort of kidney disease, about 5 patient die from renal failure every hour.
They stressed the need for creating widespread awareness among general people in preventing the alarming rise of harmful kidney diseases across the country.
The experts also referred to the unusual treatment cost of the kidney diseases and also very insufficient number of doctors and urged the government to take the issue actively in consideration in view to resist the future epidemic in kidney disease in the kidney in the country.They also observed that diabetes is of epidemic proportion, and its prevalence would double in the next 25 years, particularly in the developing countries like Bangladesh.
This will place an enormous financial burden on countries, including the cost of the management of end stage renal failure. Thus, it is medically and economically imperative for awareness, detection and prevention programs to be introduced in the country.
Kidney Awareness, Monitoring and Prevention Society (KAMPS) organised the workshop for the journalists titled “Harmful Kidney disease and its prevention: the role of media in creating mass awareness” at BIAM auditorium.
In his power point presentation, Professor Dr. MA Samad said he only way to keep the renal failure patient alive is dialysis or kidney transplantation, kidney transplantation facilities are very limited in Bangladesh.
Dr Samad, also the chief consultant, Kidney Department, Lab Aid Specialised Hospital, said the the premature deaths due to kidney diseases could be prevented in near than 60 per cent renal failure patients if the diseases are detected in early stages and taken appropriate measure to treat the causes.
“It is suggested from some data that three main causes are responsible for more than 80 per cent of renal failure in Bangladesh, that are glomerulus’s nephritis , diabetes mellitus and hypertension but all are controllable with minimum costs,” he added.
Dr Samad, who is also chairman of KAMPS, said hardly exceed 100 transplantation per year on the other hand dialysis treatment is so expensive that even 5 percent of patients cannot affords the cost therefore more then 90 per cent kidney failure die almost with out treatment.
Addressing the function as the chief guest State Minister for Land Saidujjaman Chowdhury (Jabed) said time has come to take the kidney issue so seriously by the government as well as the affluent class and corporate bodies also to spend from CSR for the activities in preventing kidney disease and also to ensure minimum level of treatment for the poor patients of rural Bangladesh.
Praising KAMPS’s role in preventing Kidney disease, the state minister said the organisations deserve logistic and equip mental supports in operating its routine activities.
He stressed the need to set up dialysis centers in the remotest parts in the country, he assured all-out cooperation fro his part for KAMPS’s philanthropic activities.
Dr Rafiqul Abedin, an associate professor of National Institute of Kidney Disease and Urology, said other causes like stone disease, obstructive urothy urinary tract infection are curable if detected earlier.
“Most of the causes of acute renal failure are also preventable and curable life detected earlier in edition to causing heat disease and brain stroke major causes of death now a days unfortunately these diseases are acorly a dressed in this country,” he said.
Vice President of the Bangladesh Textile Mills Association (BTMA), Md. Abdul Mannan, among others, also spoke on the occasion. – Staff Reporter
