Country's leading nephrologists on Wednesday called for building mass awareness about 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.
Bangladesh will observe the World Kidney 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 so that patients can detect their kidney problems at early stage to get themselves cured," Professor Dr M Rafiqul Alam, President of Bangladesh Renal Association told newsmen at a press conference at Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University (BSMMU) in the capital.
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 BSMMU at 9 am tomorrow while scheduled rally, flash mob, school programme and mass screening were cancelled due to the prevailing situation.
KAMPS President Professor Dr M A Samad, Kidney Foundation Secretary General Professor Dr Muhibur Rahman, BRA Secretary General Associate Professor Dr KBM Hadiuzzaman, Vice-presidents Professor Dr Shamim Ahmed and Professor Dr M Nizam Uddin Chowdhury and BSMMU Nephrology Department Chairman Professor Dr Asia Khanom also spoke on the occasion, among others.
BRA president Prof Alam praised the government's decision of setting up a 50-bed dialysis unit at every government medical college hospital and a 10-bed same unit at every district hospital as many kidney patients are dying in the country annually due to high cost of treatment.
He warned the kidney patients not to undergo 'stem-cell therapy' for kidney diseases as the therapy is not recognised by any country as a kidney disease treatment.
"So, on behalf of Bangladesh Renal Association we would like to call upon all patients - don't be confused due to misguiding advice of some physicians about stem-cell therapy," he said.
In Bangladesh, Prof Alam said based on different surveys, it has been found that around more than 20 million people are suffering from different kidney diseases from various causes while more than 40000 are being affected by chronic kidney disease ended up with full kidney failure.
The only treatment for end stage renal disease is either kidney transplantation or dialysis, he said adding that due to its high cost 80 per cent 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.
