DHAKA, March 11, 2020 (BSS) – Country’s leading nephrologists today called
for building mass awareness on kidney diseases ahead of tomorrow’s World
Kidney Day (WKD) as more than 40,000 people are being affected by chronic
kidney disease annually in Bangladesh.
The country will observe the day like elsewhere in the world with this
year’s theme “Kidney Health for Everyone Everywhere- from Prevention to
Detection an Equitable Access to Care”.
“Detection and prevention are the main weapons to fight against the kidney
diseases, so we put emphasis on creating mass awareness on it as the patients
can detect their kidney problems at early stage to get themselves cure,”
Professor Dr M Rafiqul Alam, president of Bangladesh Renal Association, said
today.
He was addressing a press conference at Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical
University (BSMMU) in the capital ahead of the World Kidney Day.
Bangladesh Renal Association (BRA), Kidney Foundation and KAMPS (Kidney
Awareness Monitoring and Prevention Society) will jointly observe the day
tomorrow in a curtailed manner avoiding mass gathering due to outbreak of
coronavirus.
A discussion highlighting the theme of the day will be held at Shahid Dr
Milon Auditorium at the BSMMU at 9 am tomorrow while scheduled rally, flash
mob, school programme and mass screening were cancelled due to the prevailing
situation.
KAMPS President Prof Dr MA Samad, Kidney Foundation Secretary General Prof
Dr Muhibur Rahman, BRA Secretary General Associate Prof Dr KBM Hadiuzzaman,
its Vice-Presidents Prof Dr Shamim Ahmed, Prof Dr M Nizam Uddin Chowdhury,
BSMMU Nephrology Department Chairman Prof Dr Asia Khanom also spoke on the
occasion, among others.
BRA President praised that the government’s decision of setting up 50-bed
dialysis unit at every government medical college hospital and 10-bed same
unit at every district hospital while many kidney patients have been died in
the country annually due to high cost of treatment.
Prof Alam warned the kidney patients not to undergo ‘stem-cell therapy’ as
it is not recognised by any country as a treatment of kidney disease.
“So on behalf of Bangladesh Renal Association, we would like to call upon
all patients – don’t be confused by misguiding advise of some malpractice
physicians about stem-cell therapy,” he said.
Prof Alam said, based on different surveys, it has been found that more
than 20 million people in Bangladesh are suffering from different types of
kidney disease from various causes while more than 40,000 are being affected
by chronic kidney diseases ended up with full kidney failure.
“For the end stage of this renal disease, the only treatment is either
kidney transplantation or dialysis,” he said, adding that however, due to its
high cost, 80 percent people die without treatment.
In the international context, he said it has been estimated that around
850 million people worldwide are now suffering from kidney disease from
various causes, out of which Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) and Acute Kidney
Injury (AKI) account for the most.
CKD causes at least 2.4 million deaths per year while AKI affects over 13
million people worldwide, of which 1.7 million people are estimated to die
annually.