Kidney disease deaths-20 times higher than dengue fatalities
by Carol Aloysius
An increase in the number of kidney-related deaths in the past 10
years is largely due to the failure in identifying the main cause of the
disease. "A lack of consensus on the cause of chronic kidney disease has
resulted in confusion among doctors and patients on how the disease can
be prevented and treated", a spokesman for the Government Medical
Officers Association (GMOA) has said.
"Due to conflicting opinions, the disease has been under-reported and
there is no proper investigative system since no postmortems are
performed on those who had chronic kidney problems, as their
certificates usually state 'kidney diseases of unknown origin'. There
are no proper statistics either, but according to estimates by
stakeholders including the Health Ministry, the range could be between
2,500 to 20,000 in the past 10 years".
According to the GMOA spokesman, 10 researchers have expressed their
views on the causes publicly, arguing they could stem from cadmium and
arsenic in water, to toxic agro-chemicals to unhealthy lifestyles. "The
need of the hour is to identify the real cause and arrive at a consensus
so that patients could be treated correctly and the spread of the
disease arrested", Media spokesman for the GMOA, Dr. Navin de Soysa told
the Sunday Observer.
He said the time was ripe for a national policy on kidney diseases
since it was a 'burning issue' in the country, considering that the
number of deaths from the disease had far exceeded those from dengue.As
a result of nobody taking the initiative to highlight the issue and
arrive at a conclusion, he said the GMOA following a request by doctors
battling the disease in Anuradhapura and Moneragala where there was the
highest number of kidney patients, had decided to hold a series of
workshops inviting researchers and stakeholders including Health
Ministry officials to participate. The first workshop will be held at
the OPA on November 28.
"We are hopeful they will arrive at a final conclusion within two
months", he said.
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