Chronic Kidney Disease affects many in 3 districts
By Zahrah Imtiaz
Nearly 15 % of people aged 15-70 years in the Anuradhapura, Polonnaruwa and Badulla Districts are affected by Chronic Kidney Disease of uncertain aetiology (CKDu), and daily 13 persons are dying due to CKDU reports The World Health Organization (WHO).
“Prevention is better than cure. If we cannot agree on what exactly is the cause of (CKDu), let us working on highlighting its sources and managing those” the Government Medical Officers’ Association (GMOA), President Dr. Anuruddha Padeniya said at a media briefing held today.
Dr. Padeniya said, “While we try to solve the mystery behind CKDu, we have forgotten that we can treat the disease and take preventive measures to stop its spread without really knowing the answer to its cause.
“We do not know the main reason why people have diabetes or high blood pressure and yet we are able to treat the two diseases. Hence, we should follow the same procedure when it comes to kidney diseases in the country.
“The main sources attributed to the disease are: polluted water, unsafe food, pesticides, life style choices, the environment you live in (geographical location) and other. Hence we need to better control and ensure that people have safe drinking water, food, and have adequate knowledge of pesticides and how to use them in the field.”
The workshop held on 6 December to deal with the causes and solutions for CKDu in the country revealed that we might not be dealing with a kidney disease after all and the disease might be spreading to other areas of Hambantota, Monaragala and to areas in the Northern Province.
Dr.Padeniya said, “We find that the patients also have high rates of diabetes and cancer in addition to kidney failure. Thus though the other organs are affected, it is the failure in their kidneys that kills them, hence these deaths are attributes solely to kidney failure.
CKDu cannot be treated in the same manner as conventional kidney diseases, they need new methods of treatment and our doctors need to be trained to handle such treatment.”
The Government Medical Officers Association (GMOA) recommends a national strategy to be implemented to control the spread of CKDu in the country; however this task has become difficult as the GMOA claims that the Ministry of Health has no proper method of collecting statistics to know the exact extent of the damage that has been caused due to the disease.
“This cannot be done by the Ministry of Health alone, the disease touches all sections of society. The Ministries of Environment, Agriculture, Water Supply and Drainage, Social Welfare, NGOs, civil societies and farmer organizations, all have to come together to solve this issue” Dr. Padeniya said. (Ceylon Today Online)
By Zahrah ImtiazNearly 15 % of people aged 15-70 years in the Anuradhapura, Polonnaruwa and Badulla Districts are affected by Chronic Kidney Disease of uncertain aetiology (CKDu), and daily 13 persons are dying due to CKDU reports The World Health Organization (WHO).
“Prevention is better than cure. If we cannot agree on what exactly is the cause of (CKDu), let us working on highlighting its sources and managing those” the Government Medical Officers’ Association (GMOA), President Dr. Anuruddha Padeniya said at a media briefing held today.
Dr. Padeniya said, “While we try to solve the mystery behind CKDu, we have forgotten that we can treat the disease and take preventive measures to stop its spread without really knowing the answer to its cause.
“We do not know the main reason why people have diabetes or high blood pressure and yet we are able to treat the two diseases. Hence, we should follow the same procedure when it comes to kidney diseases in the country.
“The main sources attributed to the disease are: polluted water, unsafe food, pesticides, life style choices, the environment you live in (geographical location) and other. Hence we need to better control and ensure that people have safe drinking water, food, and have adequate knowledge of pesticides and how to use them in the field.”
The workshop held on 6 December to deal with the causes and solutions for CKDu in the country revealed that we might not be dealing with a kidney disease after all and the disease might be spreading to other areas of Hambantota, Monaragala and to areas in the Northern Province.
Dr.Padeniya said, “We find that the patients also have high rates of diabetes and cancer in addition to kidney failure. Thus though the other organs are affected, it is the failure in their kidneys that kills them, hence these deaths are attributes solely to kidney failure.
CKDu cannot be treated in the same manner as conventional kidney diseases, they need new methods of treatment and our doctors need to be trained to handle such treatment.”
The Government Medical Officers Association (GMOA) recommends a national strategy to be implemented to control the spread of CKDu in the country; however this task has become difficult as the GMOA claims that the Ministry of Health has no proper method of collecting statistics to know the exact extent of the damage that has been caused due to the disease.
“This cannot be done by the Ministry of Health alone, the disease touches all sections of society. The Ministries of Environment, Agriculture, Water Supply and Drainage, Social Welfare, NGOs, civil societies and farmer organizations, all have to come together to solve this issue” Dr. Padeniya said. (Ceylon Today Online)
